MotoGP officials have confirmed that this weekend’s Catalan Grand Prix will now be held on the layout of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya used for Formula 1 following the death of Luis Salom on Friday.
Salom, 24, crashed at Turn 12 during Moto2 practice on Friday afternoon before passing away at 16:55pm local time as a result of his injuries.
In a statement issued on Friday, MotoGP officials confirmed that the race weekend would go ahead, as agreed with the Salom family.
However, MotoGP, Moto2 and Moto3 will all race on the F1 layout that uses the chicane in the final sector instead of the sweeping left-hander going down the hill.
“In a Safety Commission meeting attended by Marc Marquez, Andrea Iannone, Pol Espargaro, Jack Miller, Bradley Smith, Alvaro Bautista, Aleix Espargaro, Andrea Dovizioso, Tito Rabat and Cal Crutchlow, it was agreed to change the configuration of the Barcelona-Catalunya Circuit to race for the remainder of the event on the F1 track configuration,” the statement read.
“This layout was tested two years ago in an official MotoGP test - back then this configuration wasn’t elected for use in grand prix racing.
“As riders will have to deal with a new track configuration, practice time will be extended with a new schedule for Saturday.”