Mika Kallio will be out for the rest of this weekend, and also from his planned wild card ride at the Austrian GP in four weeks, after his heavy crash yesterday left him requiring surgery to repair ligament damage to his right knee.

In his third wild card ride of the season for the Red Bull KTM factory MotoGP team, the Finnish rider explained that when he started braking for the fast Turn 8, “the back came round”. He took to the gravel, but was travelling at such speed that he had no choice but to bail out before hitting the barrier.

Alas, it was still too late, and he thumped into the air-fence … with his bike following him and clobbering him hard. “I’ve broken ligaments before,” he said. But it had never been as painful as this.

Moto2 rider Niki Tuuli was also out after the first day: in too much pain after a partial finger amputation as the result of a grisly crash at Assen.

MotoGP rider Franco Morbidelli withdrew yesterday after FP1, in pain from Assen hand injuries. His place on the EG-VDS Honda was taken by former Moto2 World Champion Stefan Bradl.