MotoGP Argentina GP: Friday practice cancelled due to freight delays

Autosport reported earlier this week that a technical issue with a plane at Moi International Airport in Mombasa in Kenya carrying cargo for some of the MotoGP paddock had caused delays in some teams getting equipment from Indonesia to Termas de Rio Hondo.

It was reported that Ducati was primarily affected by this, with the factory squad, Gresini Racing and VR46 set to take late delivery of cargo.

However, Dorna Sports has now confirmed that two different issues affected two flights containing freight for all three classes and, with one not will arriving until Friday.

In a statement from Dorna, it notes that a second freight plane that had arrived at Tucuman in Argentina was sent back to Lombok in Indonesia to collect more freight and suffered a mechanical issue during a layover.

According to Dorna, one cargo load remains grounded in Mombasa, with a part from Europe and the Middle East being sent to fix it with the hope of returning it to the air this evening.

As a result, MotoGP and the race organisers have taken the decision to cancel Friday’s running.

Instead, all three classes will have FP1 and FP2 on Saturday morning and early afternoon, with MotoGP FP4 being scrapped and replaced by FP3 – though this will run to 30 minutes just like an FP4 session.

MotoGP freight is arrived in Argentina

Photo by: Argentina MotoGP

Qualifying for the MotoGP class will then take place immediately afterwards at 5:05pm (9:05pm BST).

Sunday’s schedule will remain unchanged.

The full two-day Argentina MotoGP schedule now looks like this:

Saturday:

Moto3 FP1 – 08:45am (BST-4)

Moto2 FP1 – 09:40am (BST-4)

MotoGP FP1 – 10:35am (BST-4)

Moto3 FP2 – 11:35am (BST-4)

Moto2 FP2 – 12:30pm (BST-4)

MotoGP – 13:25pm (BST-4)

Moto3 Q1 – 14:35pm (BST-4)

Moto3 Q2 – 15:00pm (BST-4)

Moto2 Q1 – 15:30pm (BST-4)

Moto2 Q2 – 15:55pm (BST-4)

MotoGP FP3 – 16:25pm (BST-4)

MotoGP Q1 – 17:05pm (BST-4)

MotoGP Q2 – 17:30pm (BST-4)

Sunday:

Moto3 Warm-up – 09:30am (BST-4)

Moto2 Warm-up – 10:00am (BST-4)

MotoGP Warm-up – 10:30am (BST-4)

Moto3 Race – 12:00pm (BST-4)

Moto2 Race – 13:20pm (BST-4)

MotoGP Race – 15:00 (BST-4)

MotoGP hasn’t raced in Argentina since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic forcing the 2020 and 2021 events to be cancelled.

This is the second round in a row where the schedule has been disrupted due to external factors, with the Moto2 and MotoGP race lengths shortened in Indonesia due to the Mandalika track surface breaking up at the final corner.

This is the first time a Friday of a MotoGP weekend has been completely cancelled and a two-day format was put in place since heavy rain forced the opening day of the 2013 Japanese GP at Motegi to be scrapped.