Rossi Believes Night Racing Should Be Scrapped Off MotoGP Schedule

Valentino Rossi used the rain delay at Losail International Circuit on Sunday to express once again his disagreement with night racing in the MotoGP. The reigning MotoGP champion argued that all riders would have been more comfortable racing at daylight, despite the downpour, rather than at artificial light.

The main reason why the race was called unsafe by the MotoGP organizers was the artificial light reflecting on the wet surface of the Losail circuit. Had the race been run in the afternoon, there would have been a good chance action had still resumed in Qatar. Rossi continued by expressing his hopes the MotoGP officials have learnt something from the Qatar weekend, meaning they should not push for another night race in Malaysia, as rumored.

“First of all, since they want to race at night at Sepang too, this maybe will make them throw away that unhealthy idea. In my opinion we must race during the day. If we raced at two in the afternoon it would have been better,” said Rossi in an interview for Italian TV station Italia 1.

“Rain here is very strange. However, when you want to race at night there is this risk. It's a shame because after six months with no racing, and after all the winter's work, the testing, trying to sort out everything, we are really left in a strange situation,” added the 5-time MotoGP champion.

This is not the first time Rossi expresses publicly his disagreement with night racing. During a TV show in late March, the Italian rider said he'd rather use the night “for doing other things” than racing.

Following a late meeting of the Qatar officials last night, it was decided the race at Losail circuit would be resumed at 9 PM on Monday.