Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa feared for his MotoGP career on Sunday after announcing he would take time out to seek medical advice for an arm problem surgery has failed to fix.

“The race didn’t go to plan... I had problems with my right forearm which isn’t good news for me,” the Spaniard said in a team release after he finished sixth in the season-opening Qatar GP.

“I worked very hard over the winter in order to find a solution, because I was suffering in every race last season,” he added.

“Every doctor recommended that I not undergo another operation and I have tried to look for alternatives, but by the looks of things nothing is working positively for it.

“Now I have to assess my options and see what I can do.”

The next race is the Grand Prix of the Americas in Austin, Texas, on April 12 and Pedrosa, whose career has been plagued by injury, is doubtful for that round.

The 29-year-old, whose team-mate Marc Marquez has won the last two championships while he has struggled with the arm-pump problem that causes cramping, has not won a race since the Czech GP last August.