Pit exit experiment planned for final day at Thailand test

The final day of MotoGP's debut test in Thailand is set to see a revised pit lane exit and slightly different time schedule.

After their first day of riding at the Buriram circuit on Friday, some riders raised concerns in the Safety Commission meeting about the possibility of a collision during entry and exit from the track to pit lane.

"Both the pit lane entry and exit are potential problem areas, so we are trying to find ways to make it better, within what's available," said MotoGP Race Director Mike Webb.

"We'll have an experiment on the pit exit tomorrow, because there's lot of asphalt everywhere and we can just re-direct the riders a little so they have a better chance of seeing any oncoming traffic as they exit the pits.

"The same can happen on the pit entry, but we are a bit limited with space.

"So we've got some things to try and that's the good thing about a test. Then we'll talk to the riders in Qatar and ask them how it was compared to the original pit exit."

Webb added that the circuit facilities and staff are generally very well prepared for MotoGP due to three years of World Superbike experience.

In terms of trackside barriers and run-off areas: "Not a huge problem anywhere, but there are some places where a very narrow angle of impact is possible and in those cases we normally put a covering on the barriers. The covering is already there in the critical places, but there are some extra places we would like to do.

"Clearly, anywhere where a straight-on impact is possible we use an airfence [an airfence is not designed to deal with narrow angles of impact].

"There's good runoff in the fast areas. In a couple of the tighter turns it would be nice to move a wall, but more important is to have the right covering [on the barrier] because we are talking about a very narrow angle of impact."

Sunday's final day of testing will also see a slightly revised schedule, with the track action beginning and ending half an hour earlier (9am to 5pm) in order to give teams more time to pack before catching a late Sunday flight.

The final stages of Saturday's track action will again be used exclusively for practice starts.