MotoGP: Uncini has safety car mishap at Jerez

Former world champion and FIM safety officer Franco Uncini had an unfortunate end to his Spanish Grand Prix early on Sunday morning, when the Italian crashed heavily on a sighting lap in the BMW M5 safety car shortly after warmup.

Losing control of the 575bhp car on the exit of turn five onto the back straight, he ploughed into the tyre wall, leaving himself with broken ribs and a passenger in the car with a broken arm.

The incident may well raise questions about the conduct of the MotoGP safety cars, which have had numerous high-speed accidents during sighting laps in recent years, most recently at Silverstone last year.