Isle of Man TT front runner Lee Johnston has revealed he is back on the recovery trail after suffering a broken leg in an accident during pre-season testing.

It comes ten months on from a high-speed accident during the 2023 North West 200 that left the Fermanagh rider in a coma and nursing a litany of serious injuries.

After an arduous recovery process, Johnston has nonetheless been gearing up for a return to track in the coming weeks, announcing his participation in the upcoming NW200 and Isle of Man TT with Ashcourt Racing.

However, these plans are now under threat following his crash, which occurred earlier in the month during a test session in Spain but has only been revealed now following Johnston’s return to the UK.

“The sh*t hit the fan,” he revealed on his YouTube channel. “Crashed, not of my own accord unfortunately, which is massively frustrating but it could have been worse and it could have been in a faster corner or whatever, but either which way, I broke my tib and fib literally in the first session.”

He confirmed the crash was caused by a part failure, not because of  rider error or technical issue.

“I just want to make it clear, there was nothing wrong with the bike. A part actually broke – like an R-clip on the pads – it wasn’t a mechanical fault or anything, so it was no one’s fault of anyone involved with the bike or anything.”

While Johnston declined to reveal a timeframe on when he will be able to return to action, the injury rules him out of this weekend’s Daytona 200, which was originally intended to mark his first competitive outing since his NW200 incident in May 2023.