The start of the Austin GP weekend, for Monster Yamaha Tech3 Team that fields Cal Crutchlow and Bradley Smith, has not started well.
A small fire broke out in their pit garage last night, probably due to one electric starters short circuiting.
Fortunately no one was injured, but the Tech3 garage was soaked after the sprinkler system detected the fire and went into effect and doused the team’s garage, but also the adjacent garages like Yamaha’s Factory team, LCR Honda and AB Cardion got their fair share of water.
Tech 3 confirmed that their computer equipment was damaged, but is not anticipating any problems in terms of participation in this weekend’s inaugural Texas event.
Team staff will commence a thorough investigation into the cause of the fire and thanked the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) and local Austin Fire Department staff for their help.
Team manager Herve Poncharal said, “Unfortunately there was a small incident inside the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 garage overnight.
The process of starting a MotoGP machine requires an electric starter and overnight they are left on charge.
This is standard procedure and something we have been doing ever since the introduction of the four-stroke era.
Unfortunately in the night one of the batteries caught fire.
We have suffered quite a lot of damage and of course it is not ideal preparations but thankfully the fire prevention measures undertaken by the Circuit of the Americas and the assistance of the local Fire Department were invaluable in limiting the damage.
The sprinkler system was immediately activated and fire crews on scene promptly and I am grateful for that.
We will be conducting a thorough investigation to find out why this issue occurred and take the necessary steps to ensure it is not repeated in the future.
I would like to apologise to the Yamaha Factory Team, LCR Honda and Cardion AB too, as the sprinkler system was also activated inside their pit area as well.
But it could have been much worse and with the fantastic support of Yamaha and others in the close-knit MotoGP community, I am confident we can participate in this weekend’s race without any additional problems.
