Pedrosa Down and Out. Again.

Dani Pedrosa is out of the final pre-season test after a crash tonight injured his knee and hand.

He now looks certain to miss the final test at Jerez, meaning he will have missed all tests prior to the opening round in a couple of weeks time.

Pedrosa has to be under pressure this season. Despite favoritism from Honda, at times absurdly so, since he joined the MotoGP class Dani is yet to win the championship and arguably his only significant impact on the destination of the crown to date was when he carelessly knocked his team mate down at Estoril, destroying Hayden's championship lead going into the final race of 2006.

If Rossi hadn't fallen at that race Dani would not only have not won a MotoGP championship for Honda, he would have lost one for them too.

With Jorge Lorenzo being far more charismatic and exciting, there is the strong possibility that he will overtake Pedrosa as the Spanish fans favourite. Adding more pressure.

Not an ideal pre-season then.