Ukraine war a factor in Argentina MotoGP delay, says top official

Opening practice for this weekend’s Argentina MotoGP has been put back 24 hours to Saturday after flights carrying crucial equipment for the race were delayed with the Russian invasion of Ukraine cited as a major factor.

“Due to two separate issues affecting two different flights, the final freight for the Argentina GP will now arrive in the country on Friday,” a statement said.

“The flight contains freight for all classes of the world championship, with changes to the time schedule therefore obliged for all classes.”

One of the delayed planes carrying equipment from Indonesia, where the last race was staged two weeks ago, is still in Kenya.

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Carmelo Ezpeleta, the chief executive of championship promoters Dorna Sports, told reporters Thursday that the raft of sanctions imposed on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine have had a major knock-on effect on the sport’s logistics.

“There is the main problem, and this problem has been growing due to the war in Ukraine,” he told a news conference.

“Many of the flights for the freight are from Russian companies and all these flights are forbidden right now.

“We’ve lost almost 20% of the flights available in the world and the biggest problem now is there are no flights to be shared.”

The delays come as the Argentina race returns to the schedule for the first time since 2019 after the 2020 and 2021 editions were cancelled due to the pandemic.

Free practice will now take place for all classes on Saturday morning. 

Qualifying will take place on Saturday afternoon, with a slightly later start time. Warm-up sessions on Sunday morning have been extended, with each race set to begin at the same start time as originally scheduled.

“It’s the first time we’ve had this problem, and to be honest considered overall, it’s not good but we are prepared to accept these kind of things,” added Ezpeleta.

“Our main objective today is to make the race in Argentina and to continue making the race in the USA next week.”

This weekend’s race is already missing six-time MotoGP world champion Marc Marquez, who won the most recent Argentina Grand Prix in 2019.

The Spaniard suffered a concussion after a spectacular crash in the Indonesian Grand Prix when his Honda cartwheeled end-over-end as it disintegrated, before he landed on his left arm and smacked his helmet on the ground.

Marquez also suffered from double vision at the end of last season. He has been replaced by Stefan Bradl. 

Japan’s Takaaki Nakagami, of the Honda-LCR team, will also sit out the weekend after testing positive for Covid-19.

Italy’s Enea Bastianini, of the Ducati-Gresini team, who won the season opener, leads the championship with 30 points ahead of South African KTM rider Brad Binder on 28.

Yamaha’s defending world champion Fabio Quartararo is third on 27 points while Portugal’s Miguel Oliveira of KTM, who won in Indonesia, is in fourth place on 25 points.