Restarts after crashes in Barcelona: Carlos Ezpeleta defends decision

– Following the serious accidents that occurred last Sunday in the MotoGP race at the Catalonia Grand Prix in Barcelona, several riders in the starting field questioned whether it was right to start the race, which had two red flags, a total of three times.

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The first restart took place after the horror crash of Alex Marquez before turn 10. The second restart happened after the accident involving, among others, Johann Zarco at turn 1. Both Marquez and Zarco were taken to the hospital with injuries after their respective crashes. How long they will be out is not yet specifically known in either case.

Carlos Ezpeleta, sporting director at MotoGP promoter MSEG (MotoGP Sports Entertainment Group; formerly Dorna), believes that the race management made the “correct” decision on Sunday by completing the race. At the same time, he is open to discussions about possible safety improvements.

“First of all, I want to say how lucky we were on Sunday. Of course, Alex and Zarco suffered serious injuries, but it didn’t get any worse,” Carlos Ezpeleta said on Tuesday to Motorsport-Total.com.

The accident that occurred before turn 10 at the end of the back straight, when Alex Marquez crashed into the rear of Pedro Acosta’s motorcycle because there was apparently an electronic problem with his KTM that interrupted the acceleration process, is described by Ezpeleta as a “one-off”.

“Something like that can always happen. These are things that can occur in motorsport, but they are not the norm. And there are no safety concerns regarding the track at this point. All straights on all circuits in the calendar are similar. It is important that KTM, together with the championship officials, investigates everything that happened with Pedro’s motorcycle,” said the MSEG sporting director.

“Afterwards, the race management decided to restart the race, which is normal. Then unfortunately we had another crash, which can always happen at a race start,” Ezpeleta said, referring in this context to “very, very bad luck,” pointing to “the dynamics of this crash and the consequences for Zarco, regarding his body posture, his position, and everything.”

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Zarco’s left leg was trapped in the Ducati of Francesco Bagnaia, who crashed directly in front of him in this accident. Zarco himself has since commented on the accident, describing it as an “absolutely terrifying” experience with immense pain.

While Zarco admitted that he probably shouldn’t have even started at the said restart after the accident of Alex Marquez shortly before, Ezpeleta sees no concrete reason to question the race management’s decision to conduct a total of two restarts. However, he is open to discussions on safety on behalf of MotoGP promoter MSEG.

“Again: According to the rules and everything else, I think the race management and the FIM made all the right decisions. Apart from that, we need to exchange ideas with the teams and riders to see if there is anything we can improve in any way for the future, because safety is really important to us,” said Ezpeleta.

Ezpeleta says the two restarts were standard practice since both Alex Marquez and Johann Zarco were conscious after their respective accidents. “Both riders were not in critical condition, were conscious. So under these conditions, you would normally continue the race, right?”

“Of course,” Ezpeleta admits, “both accidents were very, very drastic and the images were really shocking. That probably triggered the discussion. But normally, it is the usual procedure to continue the race.”

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