Factory Ducati rider Francesco Bagnaia says MotoGP should test at new circuits before racing there.
His comments come in the wake of the championship’s return to Brazil last weekend, which turned into an embarrassment as serious problems emerged with the revamped track surface at the Goiania circuit.
Bagnaia was speaking as the MotoGP circus reconvened in Texas, where the topic of how to avoid a repeat of the Brazilian debacle remained hot on Thursday.
“For the future, I think we absolutely need to do a test before [racing at a new venue],” said the Italian.
“The test riders need to test beforehand, because arriving at a new track like in India [in 2023] or Goiania is difficult.”
Bagnaia said the test that was staged ahead of Mandalika’s first grand prix in 2022 made a big difference to how that event unfolded.
“In Indonesia, we had a test and we understood that you can find the problems [by] riding there.
“It was so nice, because we understood the tyres, we understood [that it] was not enough for the race weekend, so we needed to change [them]. So you can understand more things [by testing].”
Bagnaia felt better prepared when MotoGP made its first visit to Mandalika in 2022
Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images
The two-time world champion emphasised that MotoGP machinery needed to be used in such tests, but that race riders did not necessarily have to be involved.
“For me the test riders are enough. If you have [race] riders riding on the tracks, they go on the limit. Not all test riders go on the limit, but it’s surely better than going directly to the race.”
MotoGP is expected to visit two ‘new’ circuits next season, with races planned on the streets of Adelaide and also at the Buenos Aires track. The latter does have MotoGP history, of course, but so did Goiania. As the Brazilian event proved, hosting pedigree counts for little when decades have passed since the last grand prix. And Buenos Aires capital last staged the Argentine Grand Prix in 1999.
Like most riders interviewed in Texas, however, Bagnaia was reluctant to fire too much criticism at the Brazilian race itself.
“I think as a rider that the track was nice, very enjoyable. It’s true that [there were] some issues, but I saw so much effort to try to avoid problems and try to make [the racing happen].
“It’s true that the track was not ready to receive us, but we managed to do a normal weekend. [And] they are working for next year.”
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– The Autosport.com Team
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