MotoGP: Rins ruled out after crash-filled session

Suzuki rookie Alex Rins is out of this weekend’s American Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas, after being one of a big group of riders to get caught out on a cold and damp Texan track.

However, with ten fallers in the session, Rins was probably the unluckiest, getting no warning as he fell from the crash on his out lap. Suffering a broken left wrist in the fall, he faces six weeks of time off, forcing him out of not only this weekend’s race but most likely Jerez in a fortnight’s time too.

He was first transported to University Medical Center Brackenridge in Austin, but will fly home tonight from Texas to Spain, to undergo surgery at the usual hospital of choice, Barcelona’s Hospital University Quirón Dexeus with Doctor Xavier Mir.

He was joined in the gravel trap by a number of others though, with Andrea Dovizioso, Sam Lowes, Alvaro Bautista, Andrea Iannone and Jorge Lorenzo all falling once, with both Marc Marquez and Aleix Espargaró double fallers.

Maverick Viñales resumed his control of the weekend by easily topping the session, one of only a handful to go faster today.