NEW images have emerged showing the new chicane at the Red Bull Ring, located between what were turns one and two on the previous layout.
Since it returned to the calendar under its current name - Red Bull Ring - the venue of the Austrian round of the MotoGP World Championship has offered some some stunning races.
From 2017’s epic between Marc Marquez and Andrea Dovizioso, to 2019’s epic between Marc Marquez and Andrea Dovizioso, the racing in Austria has been fantastic.
Those two battles were punctuated by 2018’s race which saw Jorge Lorenzo come out on top against Marc Marquez; before Dovizioso won again in 2020, and Miguel Oliveira took victory a week after the Italian in the inaugural Styrian Grand Prix with an unforgettable last corner move.
Last year, the Red Bull Ring was the scene of Jorge Martin’s first MotoGP win, and then in dramatic, late flag-to-flag conditions, Brad Binder skated round on slicks in the wet to win a second time for KTM.
However, while the battles have been great, they have been tainted by the danger of the circuit.
Most of that danger has been present in turn two. When MotoGP first went to the Red Bull Ring in 2016, the wall on the outside of the entry was deemed too close to the track, so it was then moved back.
Then, in 2020, it became visible that the layout itself presented a dangerous possibility, when Franco Morbidelli’s Yamaha threaded itself narrowly between Valentino Rossi and Maverick Vinales. Fortunately, all involved were okay, but it became clear that a revision to the layout would be necessary to increase the safety of the circuit for MotoGP.
That revision has now been completed, with the new chicane having been built. In the initial drawings from last year, it seemed that the chicane would be quite flowing; reducing the speed, but not dramatically.
In reality, a more abrupt approach has been taken, with a dead-stop right-left chicane punctuating turns one and two.
Ultimately, while it might not be pretty, and might destroy the flow of the track, the chicane should offer the safety improvements MotoGP has requested and required of the circuit in order to continue its annual visits.
Of course, the confirmation of this will only become available later this year, when MotoGP heads to the Red Bull Ring for the Austrian Grand Prix on 19-21 August 2022.
