Sunday was a long day, with little to do but wait for delays as MotoGP bikes made their final run at the famous Phillip Island venue.
The start time was pushed back on several occasions. But the writing was on the wall once Moto3 was removed from the eventual schedule at 13:48 local time. Twelve minutes later, Moto2 was canceled.
Many asked why Sunday’s racing was canceled when several riders commented track conditions were wet but acceptable. Limited visibility around Phillip Island and the nearby city of Melbourne meant the medical helicopter couldn’t take off or land safely at either location.
There is added importance on the helicopters for this round. MotoGP protocol requires a clear air access route if a potential ambulance journey to the nearest major hospital takes more than 45 minutes. On Sunday, the drive from the circuit to Melbourne took two hours.
Later in the day, visibility improved sufficiently over Phillip Island for a takeoff. But Melbourne remained engulfed in fog for much of the day. MotoGP then had an ever-diminishing window to play with. As the afternoon progressed, temperatures decreased, making racing less likely.
“The further we pushed things on, the more sensitive we became to situations with tire temperatures as the temperature started to drop,” said Race Director Graham Webber. “The updates we were getting suggested there was a possibility towards the end of the day. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t moving as fast as we’d have liked.”
One burning question that hung over Sunday was why wasn’t the racing rescheduled to Saturday with Sunday’s heavy rain known more than a week in advance? This clearly stuck in Jack Miller’s crew. “Obviously we weren’t organized enough to get the racing going,” he said, clearly holding back the tears.
2023 had shown there was precedent for moving the schedule around. Indeed, contingency plans had been discussed on the eve of the GP. “We’re talking about seeing if we can fix the schedule and race with better conditions,” said Fabio Di Giannantonio on Thursday afternoon.
But MotoGP was caught unawares by the poor visibility. The series insists there was no prior warning for anything other than steady—and at times heavy—rain. Indeed, the forecast looked worse for Saturday evening than the following day. “Whoever took this decision not to swap the long race for the Sprint for sure can’t have thought about the problems of visibility,” said Ducati Team Manager Davide Tardozzi.
Massimo Rivola, Aprilia Racing’s CEO, also chimed in. “Saturday was also supposed to be quite bad from the afternoon. [Sunday] was supposed to be cold and always rainy, but not as heavy as the night before. I didn’t consider the helicopter problem. Now speaking after, maybe we could have raced on Saturday, but that’s easy to say now.”
That oversight ensured the final event will be remembered for the wrong reasons rather than Marquez’s epic battle with title rival Martin on Saturday.CN
