A dramatic crash involving Álex Rins at the MotoGP Spanish GP reignited concerns about the safety of the Circuito de Jerez Ángel Nieto – a relatively small circuit, despite improvements made over the years to ensure better conditions.
In two years, new regulations will be introduced, with bikes featuring smaller engines and reduced aerodynamics – along with the removal of ride-height and holeshot devices. But Rins (Monster Energy Yamaha) doesn’t believe the engine changes themselves will improve safety:
– Honestly, I don’t think that in 2027 everything will become safer. For sure, a little bit – removing the rear devices will help, stuff like that. But the smaller engine will not change anything. We already saw it in Moto3: when I was competing in Moto3, there were 500 revs more. In the first year that they cut those 500 revs – I think it was 2016 – they were even faster than us. So, it won’t change anything.
Regarding circuit safety, the Spaniard commented: ‘Are the tracks safe or not? The tracks are safe; the problem is that we get faster and faster every year, so the tracks become smaller and smaller’.
Rins contacted the safety advisor and received a promise of improvements in Jerez already for 2026: ‘It’s true that especially at that corner, the run-off area is quite small. I called Loris Capirossi after my crash to check and say, «Pay attention, because [Franco] Morbidelli also arrived quite fast». And he said that the plan for next year was to improve that run-off area. They improved turn 1, 2 for this year’.