The odyssey of mechanics when material arrives at Termas

Instead of being in the middle of the first day of free training for the Argentine GP, most of the paddock was entertained this Friday using the flightradar24 application, following the route of that Boeing 747-222B operated by the Aerostán company based at Manas International Airport in former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan, which has to deliver the remaining material to the paddock between 10:00 and 12:00 local time to start the Grand Prix this Saturday at 8:45 local time (five hours in Spain)).

The fifth Jumbo cargo to leave Lombok was not moving on Wednesday due to a valve failure in one of the four engines – the same fate befell the Jumbo that rescued it and was also unable to move to Mobasa (Kenya) while awaiting a replacement – Si Dorna with good judgment decided to cancel Grand Prix Friday and re -write Saturday where two free practices were held in the morning and scheduled to practice two hours later in the afternoon, thus providing time for billing. will come all day on Friday. That’s in the most optimistic of plans because its rewriting is not excluded. From stopping by the planned morning this Saturday and focusing on the scheduled times in the afternoon, to trying to save a yes or no on Sunday.

If there are no more technical breakdowns at some of the scheduled stops (Lagos, Salvador and last landing in Tucumán), go through the bureaucratic procedure immediately and then move the containers on the road to Termas de Río Hondo (about 80 kilometers), between 10 and 12 o’clock at night the boxes will arrive. And since then the frantic test of time begins for two MotoGP teams specifically, the Gresini Racing and VR46, three from the Moto2 Red Bull KTM Ajo and again Gresini and VR46, and two from the Moto3 Red Bull KTM Ajo and Leopard Racing with no one coming to them. on four charges to arrive on time.

In MotoGP, all but Repsol Honda and LCR Honda, Pramac Racing and Aprilia are missing some parts, Ducati Lenovo the spare parts, Red Bull KTM one of the two bikes, Suzuki the rider ‘kit, for example.

The veteran former mechanic from Valentino Rossi via his Twitter account He handed the keys to what awaited his former colleagues, even as the material reached him. He said the least serious thing is to assemble the bikes and prepare them for FP1 and it will take longer to assemble the box and order the parts.

“Honestly, if you haven’t crashed in a previous race, it’s better than a Saturday night. A bike is ready for racing, with the gearbox, the fluids and the suspension turned on. set up. The race bike needs the same thing plus a clean, oil change and probably removing some parts like the race clutch, maybe the exhaust pipes or anything to try to keep mileage down, “he said. Briggs.

“Actually, setting up the garage and all the other things and fixing all the parts will take more time than preparing the bikes for the FP1. Probably it will do. teams at once. The people who work on the bikes and the men who they prepare around them “.

The further you will see is that since the Indonesian GP is wet and everything is muddy and the staff is rushing out of Lombok to catch flights back to Europe, the work of cleaning the parts has to be done in Argentina

“Most teams have one person setting up the support bike and another two or three guys taking care of the race bike. When in a hurry, it takes about 4 hours or less,” Briggs said.

And although the men from the other teams who between Wednesday and Thursday finished their work at the Termas de Río Hondo paddock offered to help them in good faith, they could not get into the pit of another factories due to ‘espionage’ issues. So the Gresini and VR46 can only be helped by people from Ducati.