Sepang test: Injury forces Dani Pedrosa to fly back to Spain

Dani Pedrosa has stunned the Sepang paddock tonight by announcing he will fly home to Spain because of a niggling left knee injury.

The Spaniard revealed yesterday that he had undergone surgery on his left knee in December to repair damage he suffered in his first lap crash out of the Australian GP in Phillip Island. 

He had finished the second day with the fourth best of 2.01.860 having completed 51 laps, and there was no sign that he was preparing to leave the test with a day still remaining.

But the Repsol Honda rider will fly home to Europe tonight. It is the second year in succession that the triple world champion has failed to complete the Sepang test.
A year ago he broke his hand when he crashed on the opening day in a spill that forced him to miss most of the winter testing campaign.

Pedrosa said: “I have finished the test because I have done everything. The only thing left was for me to do a race simulation and I can’t do that because of the pain in my leg. I can only do four or five laps at a time so it is best to go home and rest.”