MotoGP will utilise a new layout at the Red Bull Ring next season as the venue will construct a chicane on the stretch running up to Turn 3.
The Red Bull Ring will install the new chicane around two-thirds of the way down the stretch from Turn 1 down to Turn 3, transforming Turn 2 into a much slower change of direction that should make the run into the third bend much safer.
Dorna have confirmed that the work to construct the new section of track will begin in November and continue throughout the winter in order to be ready for the 2022 edition of the event, confirming also that the current layout will continue to exist for car racing series like Formula 1 to use.
The Austrian circuit has been the scene of several nasty crashes over the past couple of years, with all three of the past contests at the track having been red flagged at some point.
The interior fencing was extended to cover the inside of Turn 3 prior to last season’s Styrian Grand Prix following a terrifying incident between Johann Zarco and Franco Morbidelli on the approach to the bend, the former running into the rear of the latter under braking.
This saw both machines fly straight across the inside of the track and subsequently over the live track on the exit of Turn 3, narrowly missing Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales and Valentino Rossi as they cart wheeled through the air-leaving Rossi in particular visibly shaken during the resulting red flag period.
Another red flag would follow the following weekend thanks to Vinales suffering a brake failure on approach to Turn 1, forcing the Spaniard to launch himself from his M1 at around 130 miles per hour, the bike slamming into the wall and setting itself alight while he thankfully walked away without injury.
The straw that broke the camel’s back regarding the layout change came in last weekend’s Styrian GP, where Dani Pedrosa dropped his KTM while turning into the third bend, his machine then collected by an unsighted Lorenzo Savadori who suffered a broken ankle-forcing a red flag to put out both bikes which had burst into flames and left oil and fuel coating the circuit.
