Crash-filled Catalan Grand Prix raises safety concerns over MotoGP circuit future

The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is one of the most beloved and historic on the MotoGP calendar, playing host to some of the sport's most legendary moments, but this weekend was far from the glory of 2009, and instead made headlines for all the wrong reasons. The crash-filled weekend has given rise to some serious safety concerns, not just around the circuit itself, but also with regard to red flag and medical protocols.

Friday's FP1 session provided the first warning shot when Jorge Martin crashed on the exit of Turn 12, a relatively 'low speed' corner, but one with very little run-off area. Martin collided with his own bike after sliding into the air fence and was diagnosed with a mild concussion upon returning to the medical center. The Aprilia rider was visibly unsteady as he stumbled back to the paddock for his assessment. After the incident, Martin made the following statement in a dark reminder of Luis Salom's fatal accident in 2016 at the same point on the circuit:

"I think that it's really dangerous to crash there," he said "I don't really like to say it, but it reminded me a lot of Luis Salom. When I was crashing I thought about him, straight away."

Salom had similarly slid into the air fence and struck his own motorcycle, and a near-repeat of the incident raises questions about the efficacy of air fences at certain points on the track.

Unfortunately, the concussion would only be the start of Martin's trouble throughout the weekend. After crashing again in both the qualifying session and the sprint race, Martin was then taken out by his satellite Aprilia teammate Raul Fernandez - leaving the championship contender with no points to show from a dismal weekend.

As if things could not get any worse, 'The Martinator' then suffered another heavy crash during a routine test session on Monday morning, leading the Spanish rider to be hospitalized and withdrawn from the remainder of testing.

Martin's onslaught of crashes were by no means isolated to himself only. Both Alex Marquez and Johann Zarco both suffered major crashes in separate incidents, though thankfully both have posted encouraging updates from the hospital.

Marquez was looking to follow up his Saturday sprint victory with another good performance on Sunday, and things were looking good as he closed in on pole-sitter Pedro Acosta. However, at the 12-lap mark, Acosta suffered a sudden engine malfunction while exiting onto the back straight, with Alex Marquez following close behind.

After the high-speed contact, Marquez was then sent veering towards the barriers and catapulted over the front of the bike before sliding down the track unconscious as bits of debris exploded across the track and hit Fabio Di Giannantonio.

Marquez suffered a cracked C7 neck vertebrae as well as broken collar bone in three separate places. All things considered, the Gresini rider was lucky not to have impacted the wall directly or to have hit it with more force as he tumbled down the track.

After a red flag and a massive clean-up effort, it wasn't too long before the race was resumed, but immediately another serious incident took place. Johann Zarco, presumably struggling with cold tyres as much of the field did throughout the weekend, made a mess of the braking zone and took out both Luca Marini and Francesco Bagnaia. Zarco's leg became entangled in Bagnaia's bike as the Ducati barrel-rolled through the gravel. Remarkably, Zarco only suffered a broken fibula as a result and no major trauma to the hip or knee joints.

Following the second race restart, Raul Fernandez and Martin had their incident, and Pedro Acosta was then taken out on the final corner by Ai Ogura. Ogura was later handed a penalty for the incident, while five other riders were also penalized for tyre-pressure infringements.

Pedro Acosta, who led the majority of laps throughout the weekend and was unlucky not to win either the sprint or Sunday race, has voiced his opinion that a third race restart was not really necessary, and many other riders echoed his sentiment on Sunday evening.

"After two red flags and two drivers in the hospital, there was no need to continue." He told Spanish media, "The important thing is that Alex and Johann are okay.”

"It’s not the most pleasant feeling in the world. When something like what happened today occurs, it’s really awful that we act as if nothing happened and go out on track as normal."

"Even as MotoGP riders, who already have some experience with these things. I understand that we have to go out after a red flag, but after the second one... I don’t really agree that we should go out and race again after two red flags."

"If two nasty things have already happened in the same race, I don’t think there’s much point in going out again. I think people’s health comes before the show."

As reported earlier in the montth by GP Blog, Acosta's fellow KTM rider Enea Bastianini has already expressed his frustrations with MotoGP's safety commission, stressing that riders aren't listened to and as a result feel 'pointless' altogether.

The Catalan Grand Prix has also renewed calls for MotoGP Group to reconsider proposals for next year's reintroduction of street circuits - which were previously banned due to having caused too many rider deaths.