Ouch! Hector Barbecued on fiery Ducati debut

Hector Barbera suffered burns to his arm (see below) when the new Avintia Ducati burst into flames during opening practice for the Aragon MotoGP.

The Spanish team recently signed an agreement with Ducati for the next two seasons, with one Desmosedici being made available for the remainder of this year.

But Barbera's joy at swapping a modified ZX-10R for the GP14 prototype soon turned to shock when he was engulfed in flames near the end of Free Practice 1. Barbera bravely steered the machine off track before dropping it in the gravel for the marshals to extinguish.

Despite the dramatic incident, the team were able to repair the bike in time for the second half of the afternoon session, when Barbera set the 17th fastest time. Barbera's bike is the only Ducati running the standard ECU software, meaning he remains in the Open class.

Barbera's incident revived memories of Colin Edwards having to bail off a burning Aprilia RS Cube at Sachsenring in 2003.