Fire Causes Disruption for Yamaha at Circuit of The Americas

2013-04-18 13:02
Yamaha Factory Racing’s start to the Austin Grand Prix weekend was less than desirable as a small fire in the adjacent Tech3 garage in the early hours of this morning activated the fire safety systems, covering both the Yamaha Factory Racing and Tech3 equipment and MotoGP machines in water and powder. The fire was accidental and likely caused by and electric motorcycle engine starter.

As a result of the activation of the sprinkler system and the quick response of the COTA and local Austin Fire Department there is unlikely to be much damage.


Massimo Meregalli
Team Director
“The first impression we had when we arrived was really bad but fortunately it doesn't look as bad as we initially thought. We will now have to disassemble the bikes and dry them, clean them and rebuild them again. For sure it could have been a lot worse. We don’t know the cause yet but it is possible the fire started in a battery of an electric motorcycle engine starter inside the Tech3 garage. The emergency automatic fire system was activated and as a result we have water and white fire retardant powder everywhere. Most importantly no one was injured in this incident. The fire started around 1am and we were informed by IRTA at 6am. We are now in the process of cleaning everything. We have to say a big thank you to the circuit staff who are putting in a lot of effort to be of help.”

Source: Yamaha MotoGP

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