MotoGP Phillip Island: Why Was the Grand Prix Not Moved to Saturday?

Bad weather for Sunday had been forecast for days, yet MotoGP stuck to the original schedule and lost the Grand Prix at Phillip Island.

Many people are asking the same question: why didn’t they repeat the 2023 plan, when the main race was brought forward to Saturday? Massimo Rivola answers, urging people not to take that solution for granted.

Unlike Sunday, Saturday’s Sprint took place on a dry track, with Marc Márquez beating his brother Alex and Fabio Di Giannantonio to victory. But according to Aprilia CEO Rivola, speaking to Speedweek, the forecasts on the eve of the event offered no guarantee that conditions would allow a longer race to be held. We covered the cancellation and the riders’ farewell lap for the fans in our article MotoGP says goodbye to Phillip Island without racing: farewell lap for the fans with a Miller show.

"In fact, things were also expected to get much worse on Saturday afternoon, right around the time of the Sprint. Cold temperatures and continuous rain were forecast for today, but not rain as heavy as the night before," the Italian manager explained.

So the issue is not simply that MotoGP stuck to the schedule despite the negative forecast for Sunday: Saturday’s weather window also looked uncertain. In the end, the Sprint went ahead, while on Sunday, after several delays, all the races were cancelled.

Poor visibility, which prevented the medical helicopter from operating, was what brought MotoGP to a halt. Rivola himself admits he had not factored this in: "Personally, I hadn’t considered the helicopter issue. Saying now that perhaps we could have raced on Saturday is easy with hindsight".

Around the same time, Noale’s top executive also questioned whether the cancellation really represented a major boost to Jorge Martin’s title hopes.

The comparison with 2023 is inevitable. Back then, in response to the forecast worsening weather, the organisers swapped the Sprint and the Grand Prix: the main race was held on Saturday, and the Sprint was moved to Sunday. Moto3 and Moto2 remained on Sunday’s schedule, with additional warm-up sessions and starts brought forward by an hour.

Even then, the full schedule could not be completed: the Moto2 race was stopped early, and the MotoGP Sprint was subsequently cancelled. That plan at least saved the premier-class Grand Prix, but it also showed that revising the schedule can only partly limit the damage caused by bad weather.

After this year’s cancellation, Rivola’s main concern is for the fans. At MotoGP’s final weekend at Phillip Island, all they got was a farewell lap by the riders behind the safety car. "It’s simply a shame not to be able to race for all these people," he said. A bitter ending that leaves one question open for the future: how much room should there be to rewrite the schedule when the forecast threatens an entire weekend?

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