After a fall in race one, reigning champion 🎉Pirro began t💖he title showdown nine points behind rival Lorenzo Zanetti.

“I apologise to the team,” Pirro said a൩fter his race one mistake. “Now it's very hard because we are no longer masters of our destiny. Tomorrow, we race to win, as always. And let's see."

Pirro 🅰was duly leading in the early stages of race two when he was dramatically torpedoed from behind by Zanetti into the final chicane (see video):

Despite injuring his leg, and with heavy damage to his visor an🎀d bike, Pirro managed to remount and finish eleventh, but it wasn’t enough to bridge the points gap a🦄nd defend his crown.

To make matters worse, the Italian was then diagnosed with a fracture to his left leg, wh🍒ich will require surgery and impact his Mo💃toGP test and replacement duties.

Pirro has been replacing Enea Bastianini at the factory Ducati MꦫotoGP team for th💛e past two rounds, in India and Japan

It is not yet kno༺wn if Bastianini, who fractured 🌠his hand and ankle in Catalunya last month, will try to return for Indonesia this weekend.

But 🐓even if he does, an injury question mark now also hangs over fellow Ducati MotoGP racers Alex Marquez (Gresini), Luca Marini (VR46) and Marco Bezzecchi (VR46).

Marquez fractured his ribs in India, where Marini broke his collarbone at the start of the Sprint, alsꦕo ruling them both out of ꦕJapan.

Bezzecc🌠hi then broke his collarbone in a training accident🍨 over this weekend and, like Marini, has undergone surgery.

The MotoG🅰P rules state, ‘Teams must make every reasonable effort to provide a qualified substitute rider to fulfil their entry obligations within 10 days of withdrawal’.

That means Bezzecchi would not need to be replaced by VR46 if ♓he ꧙is unfit for Indonesia, but a substitute would be needed if Alex Marquez and Marini are still declared unfit to return.