Dovizioso pushes for solution to track resurfacing problems

Andrea Dovizioso feels a unified management on track resurfacing could be implemented to try to ensure issues witnessed at Silverstone are not repeated as he fears racing could be ‘impossible’ in heavy rain tomorrow.

Saturday’s final practice and qualifying were badly hampered by a sudden heavy rain shower partly hitting Silverstone with a number of MotoGP riders caught out by aquaplaning at Stowe corner.

The sudden rain midway through FP4 triggered a nasty accident where Tito Rabat was hit by Franco Morbidelli’s Marc VDS Honda machine having crashed in the same place moments before the Italian. Rabat will undergo emergency surgery after suffering femur, tibia and fibula fractures which is likely to end his 2018 campaign.

Further problems have been triggered with rain forecast to return on Sunday which has forced a schedule reshuffle with MotoGP’s race pushed forward to a 11:30 start – before Moto2 and Moto3 – in the hope of avoiding the heaviest downpours.

The majority of MotoGP riders have put the main problem down to Silverstone’s resurfaced track being unable to drain standing water at certain corners, which circuit managing director Stuart Pringle later confirmed, and Dovizioso fears it is an issue which could have been avoided.

“I think sometimes it happens at other tracks when they resurface the track sometimes they create more problems than before,” Dovizioso said. “I am not involved so I don’t want to speak about details but there is a possibility to make this in a better way.

“It happened already at a different track and I think when somebody has to spend a lot of money it is better to spend a bit more and not have these kinds of problems. If you resurface the track completely and get more bumps than before… something happens.

“If there is a resurface and we have this quantity of problems about the aquaplaning it is too much because the water today is impossible.

“We spoke in the safety commission. We have to make sure the track is safe but they can’t follow the work and the people making the asphalt as they are always different so it is difficult.

“I think this is the reason why sometimes when the resurfacing can be perfect or sometimes it can be very bad. I don’t know if it is possible to manage this in the future but this is what happened.”

As a result, Dovizioso is eager to find future solutions with track resurfacing jobs but concedes costs on circuits will still drive key decision making.

“We are not the right people to speak about the details but sure there is a possibility to do something but it is always about money so it is a big problem,” he said.

A number of MotoGP circuits have undergone extensive resurfacing in recent years including Sepang and Circuit de Catalunya which both had corners reprofiled in order to ensure better water drainage and to improve safety.