The Spanish Pramac Ducati rider, who had broken his left fibula and tibia only 27 days before the race in Indianapolis last weekend, was violently thrown off his bike in the final turn during FP1, resulting in fractured vertebrae.
Luckily it was not as serious as the back injury that kept him in a hospital for two weeks in Japan in 2008, but it is still severe enough for Barbera to miss the race in Brno this weekend.
His replacement for the upcoming race, Toni Elías, will stand in for a third time this season, after having done so in the last two races in the United States. Whilst in Laguna he crashed out after two laps, Elias managed to bring the Pramac Ducati machine home in eleventh at the Brickyard. He and the team will however be hoping he can pull a similar result out of the bag as he did in 2008, when he came second at the track in Brno with Ducati’s then satellite outfit, the Alice Team.
The Pramac Team has stated that it expects Barbera to be back in action when the MotoGP field travels to Italy for the race at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli on the 16th September.
