If you tuned into SpeedTV today (or whatever your local channel may be), you may have noticed only a few laps of 125cc & 250cc racing, and noticeable absence of any MotoGP action. This is because a rare rainstorm at the Losail International Circuit this evening scrubbed the first MotoGP race of the season. Because of the rain-soaked tracks and heavy use of flood lights, the circuit became almost mirror like and was too treacherous for the riders to compete on safely. The season opener for MotoGP has been pushed back to Monday at 9pm Qatar time, with an additional warm-up session beforehand at 6.30pm.
FIM Road-racing Commission President, Mr. Claude Danis stated, “For safety reasons it was not possible to race in the night due to the reflection of the lights on the track. This decision had already been taken a few years ago when we first decided to run a night race in Qatar. On behalf of the FIM I am very happy that we could postpone the race until tomorrow. It is important for the championship, especially at the first race, and I would like to thank Dorna, QMMF, IRTA and the MotoGP teams for helping reach this decision together.”
Dorna Sports CEO, Mr. Carmelo Ezpeleta added, “After the arrival of a large storm we had to cancel the race as it was unsafe. The QMMF offered us the choice to run the race tomorrow, and as it was a very important decision we wanted to consult with all the team managers. The postponement was accepted by a large majority. This has been an extraordinary decision in extraordinary circumstances.”
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