MotoGP has chosen not to use the newly installed chicane during the Catalan Grand Prix this weekend following feedback from riders during Friday practice.
A new chicane was constructed for the 2017 event to improve safety in the final sector by slowing riders following the death of Luis Salom in 2016 – for the remainder of that race weekend, the Formula 1 layout was used – before a MotoGP specific chicane was added for this year's event, one hundred yards ahead of the F1 chicane.
However feedback on Friday has led the Safety Commission to revert to the F1 layout, with riders citing bumps as the cause for several crashes during first and second practice.
"In the Safety Commission the riders complained a little about the new layout, they said the work wasn’t done in the right way and there were a lot of bumps – that’s why the riders decided to go back to the layout from last year," explained Dorna Sports safety advisor Loris Capirossi.
"That’s why we’re here, to make sure the track used tomorrow is the safest we can.
"We saw during practice today a lot of crashes too where the bike remained on the track and at the exit of the corner, and that’s very dangerous. We have experience from last year of the old chicane and we didn’t have any crashes like we did today, that’s why the riders requested it. In terms of crashes, the old one is better."
