The Australian Grand Prix Sprint will not take place. Dorna, therefore, took a long time to bring forward the long race at Phillip Island to yesterday, given the bad weather and strong winds forecast for today.
Despite the pouring rain, the Moto3 race was held regularly with the victory of Deniz Oncu. However, conditions worsened during the Moto2 race, especially with regards to the wind speed, which came with very vigorous gusts, forcing the Race Direction to interrupt it well in advance, certifying Tony Arbolino’s success.
At that point it was quite clear that it would be complicated to regularly contest the Sprint, which had been postponed to today to make room for the long race. After an emergency meeting with the teams, the Race Direction decided that there were no conditions to go ahead, canceling the short race of the Australian Grand Prix, which should have been held over a distance of 13 laps.
“Race Direction tries to hear the opinions of teams and drivers, but safety comes first. Arriving at Turn 1 with such strong winds is not safe, I believe it is the right decision”, said Davide Tardozzi, team manager of Ducati, speaking to Sky Sport MotoGP.
“We did the long race yesterday on purpose because we knew that today would be difficult. Starting the MotoGP after stopping the Moto2 due to the wind didn’t make any sense. It’s sorry for the fans, because we only come here once a year, but it was the right decision,” added Francesco Guidotti, KTM team manager.
This means that the Phillip Island weekend ends with the situation unchanged compared to yesterday, with Pecco Bagnaia leading the world championship by 27 points compared to Jorge Martin, after yesterday he finished in second place, behind Johann Zarco , his first success in the premier class.
“Martinator” instead led for 26 laps, but then suffered the collapse of the soft tyre, a choice that only he and Marc Marquez had risked, ultimately finding themselves only fifth at the checkered flag of a race that was one of the first times, because Fabio Di Giannantonio climbed on the lowest step and for him it was the first top 3 in MotoGP
#MotoGP #Phillip #Island #Sprint #canceled #due #wind