MotoE 'show must go on'

MotoE will recover from this week's devastating fire and, while the opening round of the new electric bike class has been cancelled and second is in doubt, it's 'fairly likely' the series can still deliver five-events on a revised 2019 calendar.

That's the opinion of IRTA president and MotoE team owner Herve Poncharal, who told Haaretz:

"Firstly, it was an unbelievable relief to know that nobody was even slightly injured when you see the videos and pictures of what happened. This is the most important thing, because materials can always be replaced.

"But clearly this is a big set-back because we only did one day of the three-day test. The next test planned for Jerez is not going to happen and it has been officially stated that the first race during the Jerez grand prix weekend is 100% cancelled.

"For the rest [of the races], we don't know yet. Honestly, it looks very unlikely to me that we will be ready for Le Mans [round two], but everybody is working as hard as they can to come back as soon as possible.

"Five events were planned and, for me, it's fairly likely that five events will still happen. Just with a different calendar."

Poncharal revealed that another test will be held before the to-be-announced new opening round.

"I don't know where and when the first event will be, but we want to have another three-day test before round one. If Le Mans is difficult then we have to target June.

"So now the most important thing is to understand what happened - and this is not clear yet - while giving time and listening to Energica and Enel to understand when we can be ready."

Poncharal said that once Energica, which supplies all the machinery for the single-bike class, was over the initial shock they soon pledged 'it's going to happen, we have the manpower'.

However, replacing all the burnt goods also depends on external suppliers: "This is a racing motorcycle that's been multiplied by 20 times and you need quite a lot of stuff to be ready," said Poncharal.

"But what I can say is that MotoE will happen in 2019. Dorna, Energica, Enel and the teams are 120% behind it.

"The feeling after day one of the test was very positive, so this is a big shame. But this is only a setback. Nothing else.

"Once we know what happened [to cause the fire], if there was a mistake somewhere, human or technical, we will learn from it. Sometimes you test a new tyre and after five laps, boom. When you are in R&D and racing you are always trying to be extreme, push the limits and this technology is very new.

"I think the motto of MotoGP is 'never give up' and you see the riders, they have a huge crash, their bodies are aching, they are suffering. But what do they do? As soon as they have the green light from the doctors they jump on the bike and go faster and push even more.

"We try to learn from a problem, push again, never give up and the show must go on."

Planned 2019 MotoE calendar:

Jerez - 5th May
Le Mans - 19th May
Sachsenring - 7th July
Austria - 11th August
Misano - 15th September (Two Races)