MotoGP riders told they need a lawyer after rule change made them ‘crash all the time’

Add as preferred source on Google

The San Marino Grand Prix weekend was littered with DNFs. Most notably, world championship leader Marc Marquez crashed out of the Sprint race on Saturday from the lead.

As for the Grand Prix, six different riders failed to finish, and one – Joan Mir – didn’t start at all. That meant all but one finisher scored points.

Mir sat out Saturday and Sunday due to discomfort in his neck following a Friday crash. And Trackhouse’s Ai Ogura wasn’t involved in Monday’s test after hurting himself in his race-ending accident.

10 out of 22 full-time riders this season have missed at least one race due to injury. The most notable example is world champion Jorge Martin, who suffered three crashes, each more serious than the last, between the start of testing in February and the Qatar GP in mid-April.

As the table above shows, LCR rookie Somkiat Chantra has also missed double-figure races, while Pramac’s Miguel Oliveira was ruled out for seven. The list highlights the dangers involved in riding.

MotoGP riders told to hire a lawyer to combat performance-equalising rules

Writing in a column for Motorsport Magazine, rider-turned-journalist Mat Oxley attributed the spike in accidents to MotoGP’s performance-equalising rules. These include the concessions system, which limits testing and development for the leading teams.

Oxley says these regulations force riders ‘to take more risks’ in order to make the difference. He points out that they crash ‘almost twice as often’ as they did in the late 1990s, leaving most of them ‘permanently hurt’.

While MotoGP has already established a Safety Commission, riders are ‘so concerned’ by the current state of affairs that they have considered hiring a representative. Oxley’s concern is that such a figure would ‘never work in racing again’ if they became involved in a dispute with Dorna, such is their influence.

That’s why he believes they need to copy Formula 1 drivers and hire a lawyer, someone better able to ‘leverage the power of the riders’ to get ‘what they want’. Oxley suggests that each rider could contribute to funding the move.

Even a lawyer may not be enough for MotoGP riders to tackle Dorna

Despite the arrival of Liberty Media as new owners, Dorna remain an incredibly powerful entity.

Indeed, a recent report claimed that Dorna are doing ‘everything possible’ to downsize Ducati in a bid to keep MotoGP close. They have no qualms about exerting their influence.

This was evident in the Martin contract saga earlier this year. Carmelo Ezpeleta warned that any rider involved in such a dispute wouldn’t be permitted entry to the championship, which effectively settled it in Aprilia’s favour.

And now there’s a suspicion that Dorna could lobby for Pedro Acosta to stay at KTM. They want the superstars spread around the factories.

With Dorna’s authority so entrenched, it may be difficult for MotoGP riders to assert themselves even with legal representation. Of course, Ezpeleta will do his best to take their interests into account and avoid any disagreements.