Moto3 title contender Maverick Vinales has been forced to abandon this week's final pre-season test after suffering a hand injury on Wednesday afternoon.
Having withdrawn from the 250cc class at the end of last season, KTM suffered a disappointing end to its 125cc grand prix project when Marc Marquez was bumped off track while battling for a podium on the last lap of the Valencia finale.
Antonio Cairoli and team manager Claudio de Carli team will end their association with Yamaha and join the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team for the 2010 and 2011 MX1 Motocross World Championships.
KTM has announced that it will withdraw from the 250cc World Championship at the end of the 2008 season and switch its factory efforts back to the 125cc class.
Bernie Ecclestone has questioned the rationale behind Michael Schumacher's increasing outings on two wheels, suggesting the German racing legend is risking 'getting himself seriously injured'.
The new 1190cc V-twin powered machine qualified an impressive tenth on the grid in the hands of its 21-year-old rider Rene Mahr, but failed to reach the chequered flag after the Austrian crashed out on lap 3.
The end of Grand Prix racing's summer break takes Proton Team KR out of the workshop and back to the race-tracks, for this Sunday's Czech Republic GP at Brno.
In something of a shock announcement, 125cc GP newcomers KTM have announced that they have sacked reigning series champion Arnaud Vincent and replaced him with young Finn Mika Kallio.