Riders raise doubts over racing in wet

In the wake of Moto2 FP1 on Friday, when twelve men crashed – many of them from an upright braking position – many names from the MotoGP class have cast doubts on their participation in Sunday’s race, should it rain.

Aleix Espargaro, Cal Crutchlow and Loris Baz were among those to state they would have serious doubts about lining up on the grid if riders found a wet track tomorrow afternoon, with the trackside barriers worryingly close at turns one and three, among other areas.

KTM’s Bradley Smith believes that, should it rain tomorrow afternoon, riders cannot go into the race without prior experience around here in the wet. A practice session would have to be added.

At present, Sunday’s forecast is for conditions to remain dry, but race organisers and riders will have a serious headache should that change. A collection of some riders’ thoughts on the matter are below.

Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda:
Of course, after o FP1 of Moto2. Of course we are worried if we need to ride on rain. I think nobody will go out first to see what happens. In MotoGP you arrive very, very fast on the brake point. But anyway looks like it will be dry, even better than today. So, no question mark about this, but for the future they need to analyze what was going on yesterday on Moto2 because it was very dangerous.”

Andrea Dovizioso, Ducati Racing:
Yes, like Marc said, when you lock the front completely straight is something almost impossible to manage on the wet, so very dangerous. With our bikes is even more dangerous. It will be a problem. For sure is something the Race Direction have to manage for the future because next year can be the same. Maybe is the rubber like they think. I don't know if it’s just that. Can be, but for sure they have to analyze very well to be ready for the future.”

Jorge Lorenzo, Ducati Racing:
Yes, was one of the things that we speak in the Safety Commission and was not clear if with the rain we have to race or not. Looks like we are going to race in case of rain. Looks like it not going to rain, but this obviously is a problem in the sun. The Formula 1 cars are braking. The Formula 1 car rubber make it very slippery in case of rain. If you want to overtake is impossible to use another line. For sure the front will lock. Very dangerous situation if it rains.”

Danilo Petrucci, Pramac Ducati:
“We talked about this yesterday. For sure this track, I think for the ice in the winter, so the ice doesn't break the asphalt, and it's very smooth, especially on braking. They say they cleaned it, but for next year with some sand, try to get the level of abrasion higher. But for sure, yesterday the situation in Moto2 was not acceptable. Especially because we are 50 km/h faster, and especially first of all because this is the most dangerous track of all the season. And all the braking areas are very close to the wall, and for sure we have to talk about this in the next Safety Commission. We already asked for this to be changed for next year.”

Cal Crutchlow, LCR Honda:
“I said if it rains I ain’t riding. I have no interest. No interest because there are barriers everywhere. As you saw, everyone was crashing in a complete straight line and they were going to the left at a right hand corner. It was just ridiculous. Until they move the barriers back, I have no interest to ride here in the wet.

“If it rains tomorrow and we set off and it’s wet, there are 24 bikes on the grid. You’re going to see 20 of them on the ground. The other four that are still up will get cleaned out going into the first corner. It’s impossible for us to ride in the rain. Do you think Loris is braking like us? And he nearly went down. How he stayed on, I don’t know. It’s impossible. Whoever wants to take a risk… But I don’t need to. That’s sure. I’ve been paid! I don’t need to go out there. I wasn’t the only one saying this, I can tell you that. There are some people that have a lot more influence than me saying they won’t ride either.

“They tried to clean it, but all that’ll happen is they’ll test it, and they’ll tell us what’s what. The only good thing is that Moto2 and Moto3 are ahead of us. Did you see the Rookies race? About 15 of them went down. Crashing in a straight line everywhere, and they’re Moto3 bikes. We’re running carbon discs.”

Jonas Folger, Tech 3 Yamaha:
“Even in dry conditions, the front tyre is locking really a lot, like really a lot of times, more than normal. What the Safety Commission tells us it's coming from the rubber of Formula One, so it makes it more slippery. So for next year, they will clean the track with some kind of high pressure water, something like this, to take off the rubber of the Formula One.

“Because it's getting really dangerous, because you have many braking points where you have a right corner, but you turn left at the same time, because it's a snaking straight. And when you crash there, it's really getting dangerous. Not just about locking the front tyre, but also about corner four, to increase the run-off area. Because you make a small mistake, you think everything is fine, you go straight, but then at the end you are on the gravel, and you cannot brake, you cannot slow down, and the wall is really close there. Especially with a MotoGP bike.”

Aleix Espargaro, Aprilia Racing:
“I will not race if it's wet. Everybody yesterday in the Safety Commission said they would not ride in the wet. But you know then, when the light turns green and everybody goes. But for sure I will not be the first to go out, I will wait, wait, wait. But we saw in Moto2, it's super dangerous, and Moto2 is just a street engine. We arrive at more than 300kph on the brakes, so if we lock the front at 300, the bike will go completely to the barrier. And I don't care about the bike, but we will also arrive at the barrier. And as we saw for example with the [Luis] Salom crash, when the bike hit the barrier and comes back is when the bike killed him. So it's really tricky. When we said it was super dangerous for Moto2, Loris [Capirossi] tried to calm us, he said that with the KTM, braking in the middle of the straight, super slowly and easy, he locked the front for 25 meters and almost crash. And he said he braked in the middle of the straight. So then everybody was obviously even more angry, and we asked for them to clean the track or do something, but do we know if it worked? I don't know so …”

Bradley Smith, Red Bull KTM:
“Looking at the track conditions, it is really dangerous. Looking at the rubber going down on the track now, it’s going to be worse. It’s a serious consideration. We have to make the smartest move. Seeing the guys in Moto2 going down, knowing how close the walls are here, it’s something we need to really think about what the safest option is. Guys crashing upright – you don’t want that or need that. We’re going to have to have a practice session [before the race, should it rain]. That’s essential. You can’t go into the race completely blind. Based on that session, we need to make the best decision on how to go about the race.”