If the Japanese Grand Prix is cancelled, there will be no substitute

Dorna’s CEO, Carmelo Ezpeleta, has confirmed that if the Japanese Grand Prix is not held on the scheduled date, there will be no substitute, so if the organizers of the race at Motegi believe it cannot go ahead, we will be left with 17 races in the 2011 World Championship.

Therefore, the Japanese round that should take place this weekend, and which was postponed until October due to the devastating and horrific earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan, is now in the hands of the local organizers.

The country’s situation is raising doubts about whether the Japanese Grand Prix will take place at Motegi, since the Japanese people are deeply affected and need to recover from this horrific disaster. We will have to wait and see what the organizers decide, but it seems very doubtful that they will decide to go ahead with the World Championship round.

Ezpeleta has said that if the local organizers believe it is not the right time (entirely understandable given the situation), then there will be no replacement, so all our searches for possible alternative circuits have not made much sense, because the race would be definitively cancelled.

Ezpeleta commented to La Gazzetta dello Sport:

We wait for the decisions of the local promoters. But in any case, should they decide to give up the race for this year, there would be no substitution. (We are waiting for the decision of the local organizers. But in any case, if they decide to abandon/not hold the race this year, it would not be replaced.)

He has also commented that the World Championship will only travel to Japan if there is no danger of radiation, of course maintaining the safety of the entire motorcycle world championship.

I have full confidence in the Japanese and if they tell us the race can go ahead, then we’ll be 1,000% sure we’ll be safe. If the situation isn’t clear, I’m certain they’ll be the first at evaluating the situation appropriately. (I have full confidence in the Japanese and if they say the race can go ahead, then we will be 1,000% sure that we will be safe. If the situation is not clear, I am sure they will be the first to evaluate the situation appropriately.)

Let’s see what happens in the end, although now we already know it will be Japan or 17 races for the 2011 Motorcycle World Championship, though the most important thing is that the Japanese people keep recovering and move forward as always, with strength! From here we once again send all our encouragement and strength.

We will keep following MotoGP

Source | Eurosport