US MotoGP: Rossi worried by red flag delay for injured Hofmann

Valentino Rossi has confirmed he will speak to MotoGP bosses at the regular Safety Commission meeting tonight to discuss a delay in transferring injured Alex Hofmann to the Laguna Seca medical centre.

Hofmann suffered a broken and badly gashed left hand in a crash at the Corkscrew in this morning’s opening free practice session when Sylvain Guintoli collided with the German D’Antin Ducati rider.

But the session was only red flagged just over 15 minutes after Hofmann was injured, with an ambulance required to go onto the track to pick him up and transfer him to the Laguna Seca medical centre.

It is understood that Race Direction had initially been told by circuit staff that Hofmann had been moved to the medical centre for treatment. Upon realising that Hofmann was still stuck trackside at the Corkscrew, Race Director Paul Butler immediately halted the session.

Hofmann is definitely out of Sunday’s 32-lap race and is due to fly to a hospital in San Francisco by helicopter for surgery this afternoon.

When asked if he would raise the issue in the Safety Commission the Italian said: “For sure. The rule is when the rider remains unconscious, it is a red flag directly and this works very well. The problem is I think Hofmann have a bad injury on the hand because the crash was bad, very bad. We have to speak because we need someone clever to understand that they have to stop. Because I think was very clear that the injury was bad. We lost I think 10 or 15 minutes and this is not good, so we speak this afternoon for sure.”

British rider Chaz Davies will replace Hofmann in Laguna Seca.