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Friday, March 15, 2019

MotoE: Fire destroys entire fleet of electric bikes ahead of championship

The blaze ripped through the newly-built paddock after the first day of preseason testing in Jerez, Spain, with all the 18 bikes caught up in the damage.
A statement from the organizers confirmed that the fire "destroyed the majority of material" and that an investigation was underway to determine the cause of the inferno.
"Fortunately there have been no injuries. An update will follow in the coming hours regarding the exact causes of the fire and any subsequent changes to the calendar," the MotoGP statement read.
The fire is thought to have broken out at 12.15am local time at the Circuito de Jerez.
"We don't know 100% at the moment [what caused the fire]," former MotoGP rider Loris Capirossi, who has been helping MotoE with its electric bike development, told CNN.
"We've started to study to really understand what happened. We know for sure we didn't have one bike on charge, because we don't leave bikes charging overnight, so we already know it didn't come from that region."
The all-electric series was planned to serve as a supplement to MotoGP and race on the same weekend, with 12 teams signing up for the MotoE World Cup last year.
The entire field had attended the test day ahead of the championship's scheduled start at the Spanish Grand Prix on May 5 but it is yet unclear whether this will go ahead has planned.
MotoE confirmed the championship will still take place in 2019 but a revised calendar will be announced in due course. However the competition will not race at the Circuito de Jerez.
The bikes used for MotoE are adapted from the standard MotoGP bike design, much like what Formula E has done with its race car.
"We already started talking to Energica (company who build the bikes) to find out what the potential is to rebuild 18 bikes, because we lost 22 bikes in that fire, all parts and everything," Capirossi said.
"For our side we think we don't want to cancel anything but we have to find out if we can start the championship in Jerez (May 5)."

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