Sunday's 45-minute 'qualifying' session at Jerez has been red-flagged after James Toseland's suffered a huge highside with 16 minutes to go.

The Englishman, who has been fighting to make up for lost track time after suffering the 'biggest accident of his career' during the first day of 2009 testing at Sepang in February, suffered a fall of similar magnitude at Jerez.

The double World Superbike champion lost the rear of his M1 on the exit of a high-speed left hander, and was then thrown high in the air when the rear-rubber gripped.

After a hard hit to his upper body, Toseland was sent tumbling roughly through the gravel before coming to rest with parts of his broken Monster Tech 3 Yamaha lying around him.

Toseland was later placed carefully on a stretcher by marshals and carried away from the track.

Ducati's Casey Stoner has dominated the session so far, but with Valentino Rossi closing to within a few tenths.

UPDATE: Initial medical reports state that Toseland has suffered heavy bruising but is 'ok'.