Leading MotoGP riders agree this weekend's season-opening Qatar Grand Prix would be “safer” and “better for the show” if the start time is brought forward an hour.
At the end of the Qatar test last week, Honda's Jorge Lorenzo called for event organisers to bring the Qatar race start time forward by one hour to 19:00 local time in a bid to ensure safer track conditions following a heavy crash at Turn 2 late in the evening.
Last year's race was run at 19:00 to allow for a greater weather window, after the 2017 race was delayed due to light rainfall just moments before the start.
The current schedule has the MotoGP race set for a 20:00 start this Sunday, though Lorenzo has said he will once again raise the point of having it moved earlier in Friday's Safety Commission.
During Thursday's pre-event press conference, he said: “My plan was to do 10 laps [during a long run on the Monday of the Qatar test].
“But the temperature dropped a lot, also the humidity [rose], and going quite smooth I crashed at Turn 2.
“So hopefully the race will get [moved] earlier for Sunday, this is a thing I will talk a lot tomorrow in the Safety Commission, because at eight o'clock it drops very suddenly the temperature and also the humidity goes up. It's quite dangerous.”
The first Qatar night race in 2008 got underway at 23:00, but the start has gradually been brought forward since owing to the rising humidity and the dew which forms on circuit as a result later in the evening.
Lorenzo's Honda team-mate Marc Marquez echoed his points on safety being much-improved with an earlier start time, while admitting the better track conditions would lead to better racing.
“Last year we raced at seven, and it was a good race,” the world champion stated.
“So I would prefer to race at seven. It's less risky and the show will be better.”
Andrea Dovizioso agreed it would be “better” to race earlier than planned, while also admitting the current practice schedule – where FP1 and FP3 take place in daylight – makes it hard to prepare properly for the race.
“The point is every day the conditions are different. Some days the humidity starts very early, sometimes not,” the Ducati rider added.
“So maybe it's better to take a decision early and race a bit before [the schedule start time].
“The [other] points is during the day we already make two practices, and this is bad because it's not very good for preparing the race. But this is the conditions we found here.”
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