MotoGP Qatar test: James Toseland to shrug off ankle pain

James Toseland is confident the badly strained ankle he injured during in a high-side crash at the Jerez circuit earlier this month won’t severely restrict him during tonight’s historic night test in Qatar.

The Tech 3 Yamaha rider is still in some discomfort from the injury, which he suffered on the final day of the IRTA test in Spain.

The British rider told MCN: “It hasn’t recovered as much as I expected to be honest, but it still won’t be too much of a problem.

“I’m fine if I’m standing upright and could even hop on the leg. But any movement of the foot from side to side still hurts where the ligaments got stretched.

“I did my send off gig last week and wasn’t jumping around the stage too much. The first two days it seemed to make quite a lot of progress and after that it levelled out.”

James Toseland is poised to start the historic two-day night test under floodlights in preparation for the season’s opening race on March 9, 2008.

The experience is not completely new for the 27-year-old, who took part in an initial assessment of the lighting project at the first three corners back in November 2007.

The track opens in just under one hour after a special ceremony to mark the unveiling of the mammoth lighting project.