FIM safety officer and ex-grand prix rider Loris Capirossi has admitted the main reason for the cancellation of qualifying was due to the Losail Circuit’s lack of drainage.
A biblical downpour hours before qualifying day in Qatar was due to get underway saw the opening Asia Talent Cup race cancelled and the rest of the sessions delayed, with an additional 20 minutes of running for the MotoGP field pencilled in to test track conditions.
This was cancelled, however, when it became apparent that the standing water on the circuit and in the gravel was too great. After a two-hour delay, Race Direction decided to cancel qualifying altogether.
“We tried to do the practice tonight and we thought we could resolve the problem, but in the end we understand the problem is bigger and we decide to cancel everything,” Capirossi said during a press conference this evening.
The Italian conducted a private test on a road bike at a soaked Losail under floodlights to see if it could be at all possible to ride in such conditions.
Following several sighting laps for riders during the 2009 race, which was postponed to the Monday as because of heavy rain, it was deemed too dangerous to ride with the level of glare experienced.
However, Capirossi found that visibility was not as bad as feared, and made a recommendation that the riders could run in such conditions during the race weekend so long as they agree to do so.
Tonight’s issue did not stem from visibility, but instead from the 5.4km Losail Circuit’s lack of drainage. Because it is a desert circuit, and previously no running was ever to be done in the wet, drainage features were never installed.
This left massive amounts of standing water on certain sections of the track and in the gravel traps, which was of most concern to the riders in case of a high speed off.
Capirossi explained that their efforts to vacuum up the water and sweep it away were in vain, as the lack of drainage saw more water seep through. He confirmed that this will be looked into for next year’s event.
“The main problems of the track is no drainage, because normally we don’t expect rain in Qatar,” he added.
“For sure we are thinking to do some work for next season, but until then the situation is like this. For tomorrow, we decide to increase the warm-up for all three classes and we hope to have good weather.
“Tonight we will continue working and resolve the problem as much as we can, and we decide that tomorrow we need to continue working to have the best situation for late afternoon and night.
“In the run-off area at Turn 8, there was nearly a lake. The problem without drainage is the water comes up from underground. We try to take the water with a pump, we think it is good but after 10 minutes it is again the same.”
Capirossi also confirmed during the conference that there are no plans to run any of the races earlier in the day tomorrow, whilst not ruling out the possibility of a Monday race should conditions call for it.
