Former MotoGP champion says street race plans “feasible” after “complex” block

One-time MotoGP champion and former FIM safety officer Franco Uncini says street races presented a “complex” financial hurdle during prior talks, but believes it is now “feasible”.

The subject of MotoGP racing on street circuits in the future hit headlines last week, after Dorna Sports CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta said it would be possible to use certain Formula 1 city tracks.

MotoGP has a history of racing on street circuits, though a push for greater rider safety saw them eventually phased out in favour of permanent venues.

Franco Uncini, the 1982 MotoGP world champion, said conversations had already taken place when he was FIM safety officer regarding a race on a street track.

In an interview with Italy’s GPOne, he said the biggest issue at the time was the money needed to adapt a street circuit to feature enough run-off areas to make it safe for riders if they crashed.

Why a MotoGP street race is now “feasible”

Uncini now believes Liberty Media’s ownership of MotoGP could allow for the “high investment” needed to make a street circuit viable.

“It had already been talked about, and we looked at some possibilities,” Uncini told GPOne.

“But it was very complex, because it would have been necessary to alter an existing street circuit for Formula 1.

“It was a matter of high investment, but today things have changed with the entry of Liberty Media. In my opinion, this could be feasible.”

The key issue with any street circuit is the proximity of walls compared to a conventional permanent track.

However, Uncini says wall proximity wouldn’t be a major issue in straight parts of a circuit.

He also thinks Ezpeleta wouldn’t have made those recent comments to DAZN if Dorna didn’t “already have a formula”.

“Those [walls] are not possible, except on the straights,” he added.

“In that case, a wall doesn’t bother us much because on the straight, even in the case of a crash, the trajectory is straight.

“Walls are parallel, so they don’t have an impact angle that can create big problems.

“Also, straight-line crashes are very unlikely to happen, except for a technical failure.

“I would say that a solution can be found, and if they are making certain declarations, they already have a formula.”