A Japanese Grand Prix without a typhoon alert would not really be a Japanese Grand Prix, and this 2022 edition is no exception.
Nanmadol, classified as a super typhoon by the US Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC), a term applied to storms with sustained wind speeds of 240 km/h, hit Kyushu, the southernmost of the four main islands, last Sunday of Japan with strong gusts of wind and heavy rain, causing four deaths and more than a hundred injuries despite evacuation orders being issued. Incidentally, it also delayed on Monday all flights of participants in the MotoGP world championship to Japan as well as the cargo planes necessary for transporting equipment.
Today, it is his little brother who is slowly approaching, still from the South of Japan. It is much smaller and has not even been given a name yet, and it is planned to evacuate while losing its intensity along the northeast coast of Japan.
It is currently raining in Motegi and it is expected to rain at least sporadically until Saturday evening, but meteorologists anticipate a lull for Sunday, which gives us hope for a dry race.
This hardly disturbs the MotoGP riders, like fabio quartararo who said “ I think now there is no real reason to be afraid of a wet race » thanks to the high grip of the Japanese circuit.
Illustrations: © Japan Meteorological Agency
