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Rains continued to pour in Northamptonshire on Sunday to first delay and later cancel the British GP. Earlier, heavy rains had lashed at the time of FP4 on Saturday and flooded the track at various corners. It resulted in an unfortunate incident of riders falling at Stowe corner. Tito Rabat was hit by Franco Morbedilli's Honda in the qualifying and suffered multiple fractures in his right leg.
With the possibility of heavy rains again on Sunday (race day), MotoGP race officials took a precautionary step and rescheduled race timings for the race day. It was an unprecedented move to avoid unfortunate events and ensure safety on the race day.
However, the incessant rains looked relentless since morning and the start was further deayed. "MotoGP race delayed due to track conditions" read a statement on the official MotoGP twitter account.
The race was rescheduled at 1 PM, but after track inspection and safety checks, the race was canceled. A statement on MotoGP's website read: "After a meeting of IRTA(International Road Racing Team Association) officials and MotoGP riders, a decision has been made to cancel the GoPro British Grand Prix due to track conditions being deemed too unsafe."
MotoGP race director Mike Webb along with Loris Capirossi and Franco Uncini later held a press conference to explain the reason for the race cancellation. They blamed Silverstone's surface for the cancellation of the race.
MotoGP, in its official statement, ended the speculations about the possibility of holding the race on Monday. It read "Racing can only take place today under safe conditions, there is no point to hold the #BritishGP tomorrow."
Riders acknowledged the upset fans and crowd. They expressed their disappointments but also backed the unanimous decision of canceling the race sighting the unsafe track conditions.
After a few wins up his sleeve this season, Lorenzo seems to have found his form back and was very keen to race today. After winning at Austria earlier this month, Lorenzo looked confident to stretch his points lead here but later decided it was unsafe to race in such perilous conditions. While expressing his concern Lorenzo said,"We decided we didn't feel safe on the asphalt".
Championship leader and Repsol Honda's rider Marc Marquez expressed his disappointment over the cancellation of the race but said that rider safety was a priority. He said, "we wanted to race but safety comes first."
He will carry his lead to Misano, the next stop in the championship on September 9.
