Round 16 of the 2022 MotoGP World Championship - the Japanese MotoGP - could be cancelled just days before the event is due to get underway due to an extreme weather warning.
The first of four consecutive flyaways - which also includes Thailand, Australia and Malaysia - the Japanese MotoGP is scheduled to kick off with track action on Friday 23 September at the Twin Ring Motegi.
However, Dorna and IRTA is bracing for the impact of Typhoon Nanmadol, which is due to sweep through Kyushu, the southernmost of Japan’s four islands. Such is the ‘risk to life’ concern, four million people have already been evacuated.
Though Motegi - located in central eastern Honshu, Japan’s main island - is far from where the typhoon will make landfall, it is forecast to sweep up the nation towards the capital city Tokyo, where teams and riders will head following the Aragon MotoGP.
The freight of bikes and equipment, however, is scheduled to arrive in Osaka, 400km south of Tokyo.
Indeed, with such a short turnaround to the next event, any disruption to the arrivals could have knock-on effects for the weekend. For now, Shinkansen bullet train services have already been cancelled but MotoGP is anticipating flight issues too.
As a result, a decision on whether the Japanese event - the first since 2019 following a two-year COVID-19 hiatus - will likely be taken before departures take place.
