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Spielberg (Austria) (AFP)
MotoGP circuit riders, including world champion Joan Mir and seven-time champion Valentino Rossi, called the Red Bull Ring “dangerous” after another serious crash on the track at the Styrian GP on Sunday.
Mir and Rossi both criticized Turn 3 in particular, the site of Sunday’s crash which saw a red flag roll out for the third consecutive race at the Red Bull Ring.
The track will also host the Austrian GP next Sunday.
“T3 is critical, really dangerous, especially in the wet,†said Mir, who finished second in Sunday’s race.
“What is also very dangerous on this track are the T1 and T3 because at the exit of these turns there is a climb then it goes down. And if something happens there, you don’t see it. . “
On lap three, KTM rider Dani Pedrosa fell into turn 3. Several riders just missed him before Aprilia’s Lorenzo Savadori hit his bike.
The bikes came to a stop in the middle of the track and caught fire.
Pedrosa, back in MotoGP after two years as a test rider, has moved away but Savadori has been removed on a stretcher and will be operated on Monday for a fractured right ankle.
The hot fuel spilled onto the runway before the marshals extinguished the fire. They then had to clean up the debris and extinguishing fluid and dry the track before the race resumed.
The crash was reminiscent of the crashes at two races last year, which once again saw the Styrian and Austrian GPs compete.
In the premiere, Franco Morbidelli collided at high speed with Johann Zarco at turn 2.
Their unmanned bikes ripped through the course and nearly collided with Rossi and Maverick Vinales on the next turn.
Then, a week later, Vinales’ Yamaha crashed into the safety barriers following a brake problem.
“What happened today could have happened anywhere,” Rossi said on Sunday.
“This track has three or four wild braking points. The most dangerous is turn 3. It’s dangerous for the brakes too.
“That explains what Maverick got last year. I don’t know what we can do.”
– ‘Nothing happens’ –
While the drivers, who will be back on the same track for the Austrian GP on Sunday, may be grateful that no serious injuries have occurred, there is frustration that their complaints have so far remained in the limelight. deaf ear.
“We say we have to change a few things over the past three years, but nothing is happening,†said Aleix Espargaro.
“It’s disappointing that nothing has been done. You can’t imagine how far we’ve pushed.”
In Moto2, on Sunday, there was another accident when the Italian Enea Bastianini lost control of his motorcycle at the exit of the first corner and collided with Hafizh Syahrin.
“There are critical points, but for sure turn 3 is critical because normally that’s where we always have accidents or they have to stop,” MotoGP winner Jorge Martin said on Sunday. , which took a slightly more optimistic note.
“It looks like in the future the layout will be different, so I think they will solve that problem because we come at a very high speed in this corner and there is also a climb afterwards, when you open the throttle.
“You can’t see and maybe that’s why Savadori crashed. So I think in the future everything will be fine.”
Faced with their protests this weekend, the Red Bull Ring again promised changes but the circuit did not respond to AFP’s request for comment on Sunday night.
© 2021 AFP
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