MotoGP: Australian GP moved to Saturday

October 20, 2023 October 21, 2023

The Australian MotoGP race has now been moved to Saturday.

Inclement weather has forced the Australian GP to take place on Saturday, instead of the MotoGP Sprint. This decision was taken due to high winds and rain expected on Sunday at Phillip Island.

Moto3 and Moto2 have not been changed yet with the organisers stating that they need to wait until an hour-by-hour forecast is available. MotoGP sporting director Carlos Ezpeleta alluded that the MotoGP Sprint will get the priority on Sunday.

The MotoGP Grand Prix will now take place at 5:10 am BST on Saturday morning with the Sprint now at 4 am BST. This schedule is weather permitting with the organisers announcing the change early in the weekend.

The majority of the riders agree with this decision with lessons learned after high winds in the 2019 Australian GP. The fourth practice was red-flagged in 2019 when pit board numbers blew onto the track and Miguel Oliveira crashed at turn one due to high winds. Qualifying was moved to the Sunday on this occasion due to the high coastal gusts.

It was also suggested that the MotoGP class is now more affected by wind due to the added aero.

Miguel Oliveira said: “Basically you have more to lose, to be honest, if you weren’t that on point you see the sprint as an FP4 session and get another Free Practice in a race simulation. Now it’s for real and we have to find a solution soon.”

Joan Mir said: “For me, it made a lot of sense, because if we see that the forecast is right then we will not race on Sunday. To try to adapt the schedule for this I agree, I think then took the right decision. Tomorrow the weather looks like it will be more stable so we will see.”