Pata Yamaha’s Alex Lowes will be without team-mate Sylvain Guintoli at the Sepang WSBK round as doctors have said the Frenchman cannot race this weekend.

Guintoli fractured his left in a whopping Aqua Minerale highside at Imola and although he was allowed out of hospital and flew home on the Sunday, he isn’t strong enough to ride.

“I’m really keen to get out to Sepang and try to improve the results both for Yamaha, me and the team. I'm hoping some of the things we have learnt over the last race at Imola will transform over and we can take a step closer to the front guys,” said Lowes.

"It's a very wide track that actually needs a lot of precision to make sure you are not adding another 200m to your lap due to the size and there are many very hard braking zones from high speeds so the bike must be working well under braking. The track is quite flat but some corners can be quite bumpy too but hopefully the resurfacing should have helped with that this year. It's probably the hottest race of the year but overall Sepang is a fun track to ride!

"It's a great shame that Sylvain's injury means that he cannot ride here, he has a lot of experience and speed at this track, but I wish him the best and look forward to being back to full team strength at Donington Park."