Poncharal 'disappointed' Monday race was rejected

Herve Poncharal, Monster Yamaha Tech3 team manager and IRTA president, was disappointed that the option of moving the doomed British MotoGP race to Monday was rejected.

Instead, all of Sunday's races were cancelled completely due to dangerous levels of standing water on the new Silverstone surface. It is the first time since 1980 that all grand prix classes have failed to at least reschedule a race.

Poncharal 'disappointed' Monday race was rejected

Herve Poncharal, Monster Yamaha Tech3 team manager and IRTA president, was disappointed that the option of moving the doomed British MotoGP race to Monday was rejected.

Instead, all of Sunday's races were cancelled completely due to dangerous levels of standing water on the new Silverstone surface. It is the first time since 1980 that all grand prix classes have failed to at least reschedule a race.

After a series of fast accidents due to aquaplaning at the end of the Hangar Straight in final practice, including a broken leg for Tito Rabat, meant the race start was initially moved forwards to 11:30am to try and beat the worst of the forecast rain.

But while warm-up was dry, the wet weather arrived soon after and the MotoGP start was delayed after riders struggled for grip on the way to the grid.

At 4:00pm MotoGP made a final decision to cancel after most of the riders attended a Safety Commission meeting, where only Jack Miller (Pramac) and Johann Zarco (Tech3) are thought to have voted in favour of still trying to ride.

“I’ve always been a democrat and I respect the majority, I respect above everything the riders because they are the ones who take the risk and they can decide above anybody if it’s safe to ride or not," Poncharal said.

But the Frenchman felt MotoGP should have followed the same procedure as Qatar 2009, by moving the race to Monday, which coincides with a public holiday in the UK.

"Straight after the grid formation and when we decided – which was the right decision from race direction – to postpone the [11:30]  start of the race, all the team managers had a meeting and there was a possibility as tomorrow there is a bank holiday in the UK and tomorrow the sun will be shining, the track will be dry, so everything was ready for a great MotoGP race, which most of the time we have here at Silverstone.

"But some team managers decided that they didn’t want to do it, although we already did it in Qatar [due to rain] and it was not the end of the world to organise a few more rooms or change a few flight tickets.

"I have always been frank and said what I think and I think we should always try to race. There was a possibility to do it in a safe way and I’m disappointed we didn’t take it. But anyway, we just can say that we feel very, very sorry for the spectators that have been around and waiting this race for a year and I think this should be more in our mind."

Read More