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MotoGP promoter Dorna is pushing ahead with plans for next month’s Grand Prix of the Americas, despite an increasingly difficult medical situation in host city Austin.
The Texan state capital is the midst of a wave of COVID cases, and questions have been raised within the paddock on whether it’s safe to go ahead and race there.
Austin has been in the middle of a significant outbreak of the virus since mid-August, and increasing pressure has been placed on the local healthcare system as it continues to try and cope with a large number of seriously ill (and largely unvaccinated) patients.
Only a small number of intensive care beds have been available in the city for days, with the entire eleven-county area centred on the city reportedly reaching capacity over the weekend as hundreds of COVID patients have required ventilation.
Averaging close to 500 ICU beds at any time, last Saturday none were available. That number currently stands at just two at the time of writing, with 240 of the 488 available occupied by COVID sufferers.
According to the FIM MotoGP regulations, “an injured rider [must] be provided with appropriate and all necessary emergency treatment with the minimum of delay”, and riders should be able to access “further medical treatment in an appropriately equipped medical centre or definitive medical care in a hospital with the necessary facilities to deal with their injuries or illness should this be required”.
Many people in the MotoGP paddock at this weekend’s Aragon Grand Prix are now questioning whether that is possible given the situation in Austin.
Among those is British Grand Prix podium finisher Aleix Espargaro, who says that it’s a topic that he expects to be raised at Friday night’s safety commission meeting at the venue of this weekend’s MotoGP race at the Motorland Aragon circuit.
“We [the riders] haven’t spoken about it yet,” the Aprilia rider told The Race.“But it’s nothing that gives you a good feeling to go there.
“We know that the situation in America is not good. Everyone wants to go and race there because we really want to race outside of Europe. But obviously, we have to be safe, and it’s something that we will discuss in the safety commission, 100%.”
The race is also set to be held in front of a full attendance of fans, further increasing the challenges of holding the event. The State of Texas has already banned mandates requiring face masks and looks set to further restrict a requirement for a vaccine in order to attend events – which, given the spread of the even more contagious delta variant in the city, potentially creates even more pressure on medical facilities.
The city is also set to host the second weekend of the Austin City Limits music festival on the same dates as the MotoGP race, with crowds of up to 450,000 expected to attend. There have been increasing calls locally for that event to be cancelled, with the City of Austin government confirming yesterday that it still has to grant a special event permit for it as it assesses the situation.
The local government has already cancelled last month’s Batfest and next weekend’s Pecan Street Festival – but only has the power to call off events held on state property and not at the privately-owned Circuit of the Americas.
When approached by The Race for comment, MotoGP promoter Dorna was quick to stress that a contingency protocol is in place for the Texas race and that it’s working with local authorities and organisers to ensure that the race goes ahead without issue.
