From a logistical viewpoint, the FIM MotoGP World Championship is going through one of the worst-case scenarios for a globe-trotting international sports tour. All of the team personnel have arrived in Termas de Río Hondo to compete in this weekend’s Argentine Grand Prix, but their freight hasn’t. Consequently, every track session on Friday had to be either rescheduled to Saturday or canceled.
After the Indonesian Grand Prix two weeks ago, five flights were scheduled to carry the freight of the world championship and its three classes (Moto3, Moto2 and MotoGP) to the next round in Argentina. Two flights reached Argentina from Indonesia via Doha, Qatar, and then Accra, Ghana. Three of the five flights got to Argentina via Mombasa, Kenya, then Lagos, Nigeria, before a final stop in Brazil.
One of the flights got grounded on Wednesday, March 23rd in Mombasa due to a technical issue. The issue could only be repaired with parts that need to be transported to the aircraft from Europe and the Middle East. So the plane in Mombasa couldn’t arrive in Argentina until Friday. The first plane to arrive in Argentina got grounded on Wednesday, March 30th during a technical stop as it traveled back to Indonesia to transport more cargo.
Thankfully, all the cargo has now arrived in Argentina, and all the teams are ready to start on-track action today. One of Friday’s two practice sessions was moved to Saturday for all three classes, while the other session was canceled. The pre-race warmup session for MotoGP has been lengthened to compensate for the lost track time.
Despite the lack of any track running, fans still showed up to the circuit on Friday and MotoGP’s riders were still there to entertain the crowd. They even had time to visit the local golf club with the series boss Carmelo Ezpeleta.
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