Faced with the drama of the disqualification of Fabio Quartararo after his splendid victory during the Japanese Grand Prix in Motegi, the official website MotoGP.com went to collect explanations from Mike Webb, race director and director of the FIM commissioners committee, and from the person himself.
Mike webb : “just to explain, this is a technical irregularity. After the race, the technical director gave us a report from the FIM stewards that the bike had failed its technical inspection. It had to do with tire pressure. This was below the minimum for tire pressure. We therefore acted according to this report from the technical director. In the case of a technical irregularity, it's a question of fact: whatever it is, weight, fuel, or in this case tire pressure, if it's below the minimum, it fails inspection and the result is disqualification. There is no choice.
The pressure is taken using the sensor in the rim which measures it constantly during the race, at each lap. We also take a static measurement, the technical director takes a static measurement on the bike in the parc ferme after the race. I would like to say that this point of regulation is a safety procedure because the tire manufacturer indicated that if the tire was driven with too low a pressure, it could fail and pose a safety problem. So they indicated a minimum pressure at which the tire should be used.
It's clear that it's not the driver's fault and I'm really sorry for Fabio. He ran an excellent race to cross the finish line first. This was a small error on the part of the team. The tire pressure was adjusted too low at the start, and it remained too low throughout the race. I'm really sorry for Fabio and it was a team mistake, but a technical problem has to pass the technical inspection, and if the bike fails it's disqualification. There is no choice.”
The French pilot also provided his insight…
fabio quartararo : “The regulation for rear tire pressure is 1,4 and we were at 1,39. So it’s nothing but… (silence). For me, I think I won the race because with 1,39 or 1,45 it would have been the same. But anyway, I'm very happy my weekend is racing, and that's it. We need to be competitive in Australia to re-release.”
Remember that from next year, this will be the role of Freddie Spencer to announce this kind of bad news...
Source and photo credit: MotoGP.com
