Husqvarna has been dealt another blow in its official return to the MXGP World Championship as Tyla Rattray joins teammate Todd Waters on the sidelines after suffering a thumb injury in Italy.

Rattray has been sidelined from competition for up to six weeks following surgery yesterday to repair a damaged thumb ligament sustained at Maggiora’s 10th round of the 2014 season.

Crashing on the first lap of the second moto, the Red Bull Ice One Husqvarna Factory Racing team rider, who has been working hard to return to full fitness following a pre-season finger injury, was forced to retire.

Scans on Monday revealed the damage to his right thumb, leading to immediate surgery.

“I’m hugely disappointed with what’s happened,” Rattray said. “Getting injured again is really frustrating for the team, Husqvarna and myself. We’ve been working so hard to get back up to speed following our bad start to the year. It sucks to be knocked back to square one again.

“When I crashed in race two I knew I hurt my thumb but I also knocked myself about and thought I would be ok. But after visiting my doctor on Monday I was immediately brought into surgery to reattach the ligament to my right thumb. I’m now looking at a four week recovery before I can start to ride again.”

Red Bull IceOne Husqvarna Factory Racing team manager Antti Pyrhönen said it was an unfortunate turn of events for the new-look team, but remains positive the team can do its fortunes around.

“Unfortunately injuries are apart of our sport but I think we’ve suffered our fair share of them this year,” he said. “It’s been a tough year for Tyla but we know he can come back strong and achieve top five results like he did at the MXGP of Great Britain. At the moment the priority is for him to recover properly and then hopefully start to ride again in four weeks.”

Meanwhile, Waters continues his recovery from multiple broken bones in April, undergoing intense rehabilitation at the Red Bull Diagnostics Training Center in Thalgau, Austria.