Yamaha unsure over Qatar MotoGP participation

Alex Rins has revealed that, as of Wednesday at least, Yamaha was still uncertain about its participation in next weekend's Qatar MotoGP round.

Although Qatar and MotoGP insist it is currently safe for the event to go ahead, riders are seeking assurances over issues such as evacuation should the airspace be closed due to renewed hostilities in the region.

“I'd like to talk about it, but I can't,” Rins said of the riders' demands, as quoted by GPOne.com on Thursday at Sepang.

“The only thing I can say is that we [the riders] are more united than ever.

“I had the opportunity to meet with all the riders in Australia and to speak here with our representatives, including Carmelo Ezpeleta.

“It's important... I can't say anything else about Qatar, as you can imagine, but I can assure you that we are truly united.”

Yamaha's Qatar doubts

When asked what he would do if told by Yamaha that he needed to race, Rins revealed:

“At the moment, Yamaha is the only manufacturer that, until yesterday, still didn't know if it would go to Qatar.

“Today I don't know if the situation has changed, because I just arrived at the circuit.

“As for the power we [the riders] can have, as I said, we are trying to stay united.”

The latest advice issued by the Japanese government is to ‘refrain from non-essential travel’ to Qatar.

MotoGP deputy CEO Carlos Ezpeleta travelled to Doha after last weekend's Australian Grand Prix for further meetings about the MotoGP race.

Qatar has already been rescheduled from its original April date, causing the season-ending Portimao and Valencia rounds to be pushed back by a week.

The cancellation of Qatar would also have an impact on the world championship, where Marc Marquez is currently just ten points ahead of Jorge Martin.