Dorna is thinking of revising MotoGP’s provisional 2011 calendar regarding the Australian GP which is scheduled for October 16th, the same date as this year, after renewed complaints by the Riders Safety Commission, lead by the outspoken Valentino Rossi.
Speaking to Sportmediset’s pitlane reporter Alberto Porta who interviewed Carmelo Ezpeleta reported that he’s already in talks with the track organizers to try to change the event to an earlier date.
Most the of the riders are convinced that the middle of October date is too late in the calendar considering the cold and unpredicatable weather conditions that hits the Island in Spring and would prefer an Australian summer race.
Changing the Australian GP won’t be an easy task, because the season opener contractually has to be the night race at Losail (March 20th in 2011) and even if they try to move it up earlier in the calendar, the riders will still find a cold and damp track unless they schedule an earlier start time, which the riders have already asked after this year’s numerous crashes, but this would wreck havoc with the prime time TV schedule in Europe.
Another problem is not having the GP calendar clash with Formula 1, which as everyone knows has precedence on any other type of racing.