MotoGP: Reigning World Champion Jorge Lorenzo suffers second heavy crash in as many races

The Yamaha rider was thrown from his bike and landed on his already damaged left shoulder

Jorge Lorenzo in action at the Sachsenring before he suffered his crash (GETTY IMAGES)

Reigning MotoGP World Champion Jorge Lorenzo has suffered a second heavy crash in as many weeks to rule him out of Sunday’s German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring.

Lorenzo suffered a broken collarbone during practice during the last round at Assen, but he astonishingly finished fifth in the Saturday race having flown to Barcelona and back to have surgery on the injury.

The two-week break would have helped the Spaniard to recover further as he attempts to hunt down current championship leader Dani Pedrosa, but his campaign to win a third consecutive title was dealt a huge blow when he crashed in second practice earlier today.

Lorenzo flipped over the front of his Yamaha M1 just six minutes into the second session of the day, landing heavily on the already-injured left shoulder and suffering a broken scapula along with sustaining further damage to the surgically repaired collarbone.

The two-time world champion, who also two 250cc titles, has already pulled out of Sunday’s race at a track that has seen Pedrosa win for the last three years.

Britain’s Cal Crutchlow was another to suffer a crash in second practice, having already gone off at turn 11 in the first session. The Tech 3 rider was forced to sit out the rest of the session having suffered scrapes and burns to his left hand.

Andrea Dovizioso and Andrea Iannone also crashed at the same corner, with the latter’s Ducati splitting in two as it barrelled down the track.