The Australian GP Sprint at the Phillip Island circuit was cancelled half an hour before today's 13-lap race was due to start after the wet and windy conditions disrupted track activity on Sunday morning. Yesterday, faced with an expected deterioration of the weather, it was decided to invert the running order of the weekend, moving the Grand Prix to Saturday and the Sprint to Sunday. Following this morning's warm-up, which was run in acceptable conditions, the Moto3 race went ahead as scheduled, but Moto2 was interrupted two-thirds of the way through because of the strong winds. For this reason, the organisers decided to cancel the rest of the day's racing activities.
Francesco Bagnaia (#1 Ducati Lenovo Team)
"I always regret not being able to race because it represents a missed opportunity. Unfortunately, this morning in the warm-up, we had a small problem with a setting on the bike, and I couldn't push as much as I wanted, but we fixed it for the race, and I was prepared for everything, to fight for the top positions and win. But I'm happy for the decision because the conditions were very dangerous. The situation in the warm-up was already a bit critical, then in the Moto3 race, they finished the race in 18, and it was really at the limit. In the end, we had a good weekend because we gained more points, let's see at the next race in Thailand if we can be immediately ahead from Friday."
Enea Bastianini (#23 Ducati Lenovo Team)
"Unfortunately, today it wasn't feasible, this morning during the warm-up, it wasn't even that bad, but the last two laps were dangerous, I entered in turn 3 but immediately went out, the situation was quite borderline. Then, the wind this afternoon had practically doubled. So we have postponed everything to the next appointment in Thailand."
Following yesterday's Grand Prix, in which he finished in second place behind Zarco (Pramac Racing Team), Bagnaia takes a 27-point lead over Jorge Martin (Pramac Racing Team) to the next round – the Thailand Grand Prix – which will be held next weekend at the Chang International Circuit in Buriram. |
