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An unusual Saturday for Phillip Island, with qualifications cancelled due to adverse weather conditions. In fact, the strong gusts put a strain on the riders so that, after Miguel Oliveira's fall in the FP4, they decided to cancel everything for Saturday.
A situation that certainly wasn't easy, and one which Pecco Bagnaia also had to confront.
"Two laps after Oliveira fell, the same thing was happening to me too," commented Bagnaia. "So I'm happy with the decision made by the Safety Commission, since I consider it fundamental. The situation was really dangerous today, although with conflicting opinions. In the end, however, most riders didn't want to race, and the decision made was the right one. The wind was blowing hard, and the problem was that it was unpredictable. There were gusts that changed with every turn."
Bagnaia's mind is thinking about Saturday.
"We'll do the warm up, then qualifications. Starting with the FP2 times would have been wrong, so I think this new format is correct. The wind will drop a lot tomorrow. It'll be 20 km less per hour than today, which blew at 60 km/h. The gusts even reached 80km/h today, but the wind should be around 25 km/h tomorrow. The fact is that rain is expected during the race, so you never know. You have to be very careful in these conditions, since these are elite bikes."
Jack MIller echoed Bagnaia. Jack knows Phillip Island like the back of his hand.
"I agree 100% with the decision to cancel qualifications on Saturday ," the Australian commented. "I was about to fall on the first lap, like Oliveira. It's also true that every rider can reduce his speed when he's riding. Unfortunately, the gusts were really strong and took you by surprise. It was really impossible to ride. That's why I think it was correct to postpone everything until tomorrow. Unfortunately, at this time of the season, the climate is always a big question at Phillip Island. It's too bad, since this is my home race. We'll see what happens tomorrow starting from qualifications. I think the choice to have them postponed till tomorrow is right, even if I consider them superfluous in some way. We'll see what happens tomorrow during the 27 laps. It'll be a great mystery for all of us riders, and I'm curious to see what'll happen."
Audio recorded by Matteo Aglio
