Sprint canceled due to bad conditions at Phillip Island

Because at the beginning of the week the teams and those responsible for the championship arrive at Phillip Island They already knew that the option to cancel the Sunday races was in the program and finally affected the MotoGP Sprint. The worst is expected from noon this Sunday and will directly affect the main category, the reason for a Grand Prix. The organization became healthy by changing the order of the tests, on Saturday the Long Race was held and the Sprint was left for Sunday. There was a new program rewrite, which advanced the races by one hour. Moto3 and Moto2 were able to compete, this one was already suspended due to a red flag, and half an hour before the start of MotoGP it was decided to definitely cancel the race “for safety reasons”, a good decision.

The wind, Phillip Island’s worst enemy for the pilots, is planned for three days, but on Sunday, in addition to the rain, gusts can exceed 60 km/h from noon, which will put the team in serious danger . competitors. In the current MotoGP you reach the end of the straight very hard and the first three corners are on the outside. There is no point in releasing that invention to provide content on Saturday on television, so many crashes have accumulated in the main category since the start in Portimao and that have prevented the official drivers of 2023 from competing throughout the year. together in one race.

On Friday the sporting director of MotoGP, Carlos Ezpeleta, He already suggested in a press conference that, due to the prevalence of aerodynamics, MotoGP is more affected by the wind compared to Moto3 and Moto2, which is why they don’t stop or do a formation lap. Just in the morning they competed in the ten-minute warmup and there was already a division of opinion in a meeting.

The critical points are the curves overlooking the Bass Strait, the gust comes in from the right and the bike turns sideways and is sent to the grass in places from 1 to 3 – the end of the straight is where the accident happened de Oliveira in 2019 due to the gust of wind -, the fast 8 and the curve at the entrance to the finish line are also critical.

And when the cancellation became known, a detail from several pilots, some already dressed in street clothes and others still in kangaroo skin jumpsuits, approached the brave Australian fans – 19,787 gathered this Sunday because they know there is a risk of cancellation and that is. not the day of the long race – that they endured a grueling Sunday due to cold and rain. The store Jack Miller He took a step away and distributed the boots and gloves he was wearing. “Sitting and having these conditions is not easy and unfortunately the fans were not able to watch the Race, now we should have tried at least a couple of laps,” observed the KTM ‘aussie ‘.

For Bagnaia, “It’s always a shame not to be able to race, another chance to win points but in the warmup I felt something wasn’t working and the last laps got complicated and it’s seen a lot of crashes in Moto3. and Moto2 races like the wind” He sent drivers off the track at turn 1, it happened to Vietti like Oliveira in 2019, and we got there faster. Embarrassing but the right decision, just like running the race yesterday. “

Jorge Martin He explained that “it was the right decision, an incredible wind and it has been seen in many crashes in Moto2. It is a good opportunity to recover some points because I felt good in the warmup, but respected I’m the Race Direction’s decision”. He elaborated on the lesson learned from the mistakes of Mandalika and Phillip Island: “This year it will be or it will be but they are lessons for the future. In the end it is my first year fighting for the MotoGP title.”

John Zarco, winner of Saturday’s race, said that “I concentrated for the Sprint, but we thought it was for the best because the wind was very strong.” For Bezzecchi, “This morning in the warmup I was fine and during the last laps it was clear that it was going to be tough, there was good grip, but the problem was that the wind in the part near the Ocean blew very strong. For me it became too dangerous in Moto2”.

After the cancellation of Sunday’s Sprint, Bagnaia left Phillip Island with 27 points ahead of Martín and 73 over Bezzecchi and with 160 points left at stake until Sunday in Valencia. If Martín wins all the rest and Bagnaia is second, he still has 8 points left for the Madrid native, so he still hopes to knock the team’s official driver and current champion from his satellite team. But he no longer has any margin for error and he can’t even use a calculator.