PICS: Pasini, mechanic escape 'scary' pit-lane collision

Mattia Pasini and a Cardion AB team member were lucky to escape serious injury when the Italian collided with the mechanic in the pit lane, during Friday morning practice at the Sachsenring in Germany.

The unnamed mechanic was able to quickly rise to his feet, but Pasini suffered a hard knock to the head and lay on the ground for several minutes whilst nearby factory Ducati mechanics came to his aid.

Pasini's rider-less ART machine came close to swerving into the Ducati pits. See below for further pictures from immeidtaley after the accident.

"When I returned to the box there was a 'hiccup' with a mechanic who ran through the pit lane. This complicated the day: I hit my head violently and hurt my back," said Pasini, who was later given the medical all clear to continue.

Pasini returned to set the 14th best time out of 21 riders in the wet afternoon session. "I went quite well in the wet... We'll start tomorrow with the work we had planned for today."

Among those to observe the morning incident from close quarters was factory Ducati mechanic Alex Briggs, who wrote on Twitter (@Alex__Briggs):

"Directly outside our garage Pasini hit one of Abraham's mechanics stepping-off pit wall... The bike all but spun into our garage. Only thing that stopped it was the dividing concrete post, Bernie turned it off.

"It's kinda funny now talking about it, but was really scary and a wake up call. I was in Jerez [in 1993] when [Noboyuki] Wakai died in very similar circumstances."