‘An important thing happened and only 6-7 MotoGP riders were there’

The MotoGP riders’ Safety Commission meeting at Sepang included a detailed explanation of why red flags were mistakenly not shown in the aftermath of Jorge Navarro’s Moto2 accident at Phillip Island.

Peter McLaren

28 Oct 2022

Jorge Navarro crash, Moto2 race, Australian MotoGP, 16 October

But less than half of the 24-strong premier-class grid was present to hear how the chain of events unfolded or the action Race Direction will now be taking to avoid a repeat in the future.

“They were very, very sorry. They accepted they made a mistake,” said Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro.

“They fully accept, everybody on the board, from Race Direction to everybody in Dorna, that it was more than two laps [to move Navarro], completely unacceptable, so hopefully we can learn from this.”

However, the MotoGP riders present were more confused by the ‘strange’ low turnout and the message it sends.

“Very strange. We were just 6-7 riders,” Espargaro confirmed. “I don't really understand why. It was a very important moment to be together.

“It's not about blame, it’s about trying to be constructive, to try to help them as much as possible to make this championship better.

“They give us the chance to go to the Safety Commission, but if you [the absent riders] don't go, you cannot then blame anybody in the press. It's not fair.”

2020 world champion Joan Mir was also surprised by the lack of interest from fellow riders in hearing the causes of the decision to cover Navarra’s accident with yellow instead of red flags.

“About that [Navarro red flag] situation, they explained to us that they made a mistake, so that's good,” Mir said.

“But in the Safety Commission, I think we were less than half of the grid in MotoGP, so that is probably not the way to do it.

“We pushed to not allow these types of [red flag] mistakes, but probably we needed a bit more help, because it's something that we can't allow.

“The important thing is that they understood that they didn't make the right choice. We will try to avoid this happening again.”

Jorge Martin, MotoGP race, Malaysian MotoGP, 23 October

Suzuki team-mate Alex Rins was likewise caught off guard by the poor attendance.

“I went to the Safety Commission. The Race Director explained why he did not show the red flag. Mostly I still don’t agree, but what was more strange was that there were just 6-7 riders,” Rins said.

“I mean, I was waiting for more people [to arrive]. An important thing happened and unfortunately more than 50% of the grid was not there.”

The Safety Commission meeting is held on a Friday evening at MotoGP race weekends.

Navarro is continuing his recovery after undergoing surgery for a fractured femur, sustained when he fell and was then hit by Simone Corsi during the Phillip Island Moto2 race.