The Red Bull Ring circuit will have a new chicane for the MotoGP 2022 races. The change was decided to prevent further incidents such as the terrifying one of 2020 triggered by Zarco. The new chicane will replace the previous turn 2.
In 2020 the Austrian Red Bull Ring track had been the scene of a terrible incident between Johann Zarco and Franco Morbidelli, whose flying bikes at very high speed passed very close to Valentino Rossi and Maverick Vinales. After that incident, it seemed essential to rethink the layout of the track in that section, between Turn 2 and Turn 3, to improve the safety of the riders.
Today The Race publishes, in the article by Simon Patterson, photos of the modifications being made to the Austrian track to add a new chicane in place of the previous turn 2. The purpose of the new chicane will be double. The first target will be to reduce the speed with which the bikes arrive at the braking point of turn 3. Furthermore, the new chicane will change the line approaching turn 3, avoiding the possibility of repeating incidents such as the one triggered by Zarco in the 2020.
In The Race article you can find the satellite photos made by Planet Labs PBC where the new chicane of the Austrian circuit is visible. The change to the track comes from a safety problem encountered with the MotoGP bikes but the other classes of the World Championship will also benefit from it, in particular MotoE.
The MotoGP electric class riders rode the old Turn 2 at around 234 km/h before braking for Turn 3 at nearly 240 km/h. Although these values are lower than those of MotoGP at the same points, the weight of the MotoE (260 kg) made this part of the circuit extremely dangerous for them too.
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"It's a major change after the 2020 crash," Matteo Ferrari, rider of the Gresini team in MotoE, explained to Epaddock. “I am pleased with the changes they are making to increase safety on that part of the track. It will not be a change that will modify the character of the circuit, judging by the images it will be a fast and very fun chicane. I am happy that continuous progress is being made on safety".
Also Dominique Aegerter thinks the right choice has been made: "The one between Turn 1 and Turn 3 is a very dangerous sector of track as we saw in the MotoGP crash in 2020. I always liked this part a lot because you go downhill and then uphill always at full throttle and braking at turn 3 had to be extremely precise. I think the new chicane will take some of the top speed off before braking on Turn 3 so there will be a little less fun, but safety is more important”.
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