Nick Harris on an eventful Saturday at Mugello

Saturday provided a day filled with news in the MotoGP Paddock as reigning World Champion Valentino Rossi suffered a fractured right tibia, ruling him out of Sunday’s race at Mugello and for an unspecified period beyond that.

motogp.com commentator Nick Harris explained his thoughts on how it could affect Sunday’s race, and said: “It’s serious for the Championship – we’ve never had a race since Valentino Rossi started without him, so it’s a very strange feeling.”

“It has opened things up for Sunday, and although Dani Pedrosa is in pole position you have to say that Jorge Lorenzo looks very strong on the race set-up. I think he will be the major threat. Casey Stoner’s race set-up isn’t great but who knows, he may find something. The riders just have to concentrate on the race and not on what happened here today.”

Andrea Iannone took pole in Moto2 qualifying and Nick was surprised by the Italian’s blistering pace. “Where did Iannone find that lap from in the middle of the session? At one point he was seven-tenths faster than anybody else, which is unheard of in Moto2,” said Nick. “Toni Elías produced a lap right at the end to qualify second, but he hasn’t looked too confident throughout the weekend.”

The 125cc class also provided a thrilling qualifying session with Sandro Cortese on pole, and Nick added: “Pol Espargaró has won the last two races on that front row, and it’s good to see Bradley Smith right back in contention. Nico Terol is always consistent and in the points and is again on the front row. I think the top five and Marc Márquez as well will probably get away and it will be a real battle.”

Test your own thoughts by placing your predictions through the Official Fantasy MotoGP 2010 game. Submit your predictions for Sunday now and be in with a chance of winning some great prizes!