Valentino Rossi fans (as well as his crew and the rider himself) were much relieved in the morning FP3 session when the heroic injury return victim was quick to his feet after a high-side crash, and strong enough not just to walk away, but to attempt to bump-start his M1 Yamaha.

Rossi broke his right tibia and fibula just over a month ago, and broke injury recovery records when he came back to ride in the Aragon GP 22 days later.

But when he got thrown off at Motegi, he admitted “I was lucky.”

The bike had “rotated below me”, he told press in the paddock. “I have some more pain now, but it’s okay. I didn’t hit the leg a lot.” The worse injury was to a finger.

“It was good, because it was quite a big crash,” he said.

As a result, he lost his preferred bike for qualifying, and had to go through FP4 and the qualifying session with just one bike.

Rossi, Japanese MotoGP 2017

By Michael Scott