MotoGP will begin season in July; COTA date now unconfirmed

By Jun 11, 2020, 2:15 PM EDT
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After a delay of more than four months, MotoGP announced Thursday that its premier division will begin the 2020 season July 19 at the Jerez circuit in Spain.

The series said in a release that it will hold a minimum of 13 races this year from July through November with possibly four additional races held outside Europe through Dec. 13.

That includes the Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas that originally had been rescheduled from April 3-5 to Nov. 13-15 in Austin, Texas. MotoGP’s revised schedule now lists its Nov. 15 race as being held in Valencia, Spain.

On the updated schedule, Circuit of the Americas is one of four tracks without confirmed dates.

The MotoGP release said those tracks (also including Thailand, Argentina and Malaysia) will be confirmed by July 31. A request for comment from COTA wasn’t immediately returned Thursday.

“All dates, events and the eventual attendance of spectators are subject to the evolution of the pandemic and the approval of the corresponding Governments and authorities,” according to the MotoGP release Thursday.

MotoGP’s Moto2 and Moto3 divisions were able to begin their seasons in Qatar (where Joe Roberts became the first American on pole position in 10 years), but the support classes also have been sidelined since March by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Roger Penske discusses flying tire at Indy 500 with Dallara executives: ‘We’ve got to fix that’

By May 30, 2023, 6:00 PM EDT
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INDIANAPOLIS – Roger Penske spoke with Dallara executives Monday morning about the loose tire that went flying over the Indianapolis Motor Speedway catchfence and into a Turn 2 parking lot.

The left-rear wheel from Kyle Kirkwood’s No. 27 Dallara-Honda was sheared off in a collision at speed as Kirkwood tried to avoid the skidding No. 6 Dallara-Chevrolet of Felix Rosenqvist on Lap 183 of the 107th Indianapolis 500.

No one seriously was hurt in the incident (including Kirkwood, whose car went upside down and slid for several hundred feet), though an Indianapolis woman’s Chevy Cruze was struck by the tire. The Indy Star reported a fan was seen and released from the care center after sustaining minor injuries from flying debris in the crash.

During a photo shoot Monday morning with Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden at the IMS Yard of Bricks, Penske met with Dallara founder and owner Gian Paolo Dallara and Dallara USA CEO Stefano dePonti. The Italian company has been the exclusive supplier of the current DW12 chassis to the NTT IndyCar series for 11 years.

“The good news is we didn’t have real trouble with that tire going out (of the track),” Penske, who bought Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2020, told a few reporters shortly afterward. “I saw it hit. When it went out, I saw we were OK. I talked to the Dallara guys today. We’re going to look at that, but I guess the shear (force) from when (Rosenqvist’s) car was sitting, (Kirkwood’s car) went over and just that shear force tore that tether. Because we have tethers on there, and I’ve never seen a wheel come off.

“That to me was probably the scariest thing. We’ve got to fix that. We’ve got to fix that so that doesn’t happen again.”

Asked by NBC Sports if IndyCar would be able to address it before Sunday’s Detroit Grand Prix or before the next oval race at Iowa Speedway, Penske said, “The technical guys should look at it. I think the speed here, a couple of hundred (mph) when you hit it vs. 80 or 90 or whatever it might be, but that was a pinch point on the race.”

In a statement released Monday to WTHR and other media outlets, IndyCar said that it was “in possession of the tire in Sunday’s incident and found that the tether did not fail. This is an isolated incident, and the series is reviewing to make sure it does not happen again. IndyCar takes the safety of the drivers and fans very seriously. We are pleased and thankful that no one was hurt.”

IndyCar provided no further explanation for how the wheel was separated from the car without the tether failing.

IndyCar began mandating wheel suspension tethers using high-performance Zylon material after a flying tire killed three fans at Charlotte Motor Speedway during a May 1, 1999 race. Three fans also were struck and killed by a tire at Michigan International Speedway during a July 26, 1998 race.

The IndyCar tethers can withstand a force of more than 22,000 pounds, and the rear wheel tethers were strengthened before the 2023 season.