Monster Yamaha's Cal Crutchlow will grit his teeth and try to race in his home MotoGP round at Silverstone tomorrow even though he badly sprained his left ankle in a crash this morning.

Crutchlow went down on his first lap of the track in free practice three and early reports put a break in the ankle but it was later discovered after a scan in hospital there is no fracture and he can put weight on it.

“We are very optimistic that Cal will be able to participate in the British Grand Prix tomorrow. The medical staff in Oxford said he should be fine to race and he has no broken bones in the foot or ankle. That is a big relief because Cal was in quite a lot of pain. He will now undertake the necessary checks with the Silverstone medics in the morning, but it looks very positive and he aims to race," said team boss Herve Poncharal.

"We obviously hope he will be able to ride after the disappointment of last year when he was unable to start the race because he was injured. I know what it means for him to race in front of his home crowd, who have given Cal and the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team unbelievable support this weekend.”