Mandalika resurfacing complete: "We're really confident"

Resurfacing at the Pertamina Mandalika Circuit has been completed and ahead of the eagerly anticipated Pertamina Grand Prix of Indonesia this weekend, motogp.com caught up with RMI General Manager, Simon Gardini, to get the lowdown on everything that’s happened over the last few weeks.

We spoke to Simon a couple of weeks ago, when the resurfacing was nearing its completion after the FIM, Dorna and the Indonesia Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) had identified a couple of things that needed improving after the three-day MotoGP™ Test: the cleanliness of the track surface and the excess of aggregate affecting parts of the circuit.

Following on from the initial catch up, two weeks of non-stop work has taken place in Mandalika to ensure the circuit is in the best possible shape for the Grand Prix. 1.6km of the track has been resurfaced, a new dual carriageway has been built at the front of the circuit, and other updates undertook to make the venue the best it can be.

“It’s been insanely busy, any event like this ramps up very quickly in intensity. Then it gets to this last week when you get the first wave of visitors come in mobilising all the infrastructure that goes with MotoGP,” began Simon, speaking on Wednesday evening in Lombok.

• PERTAMINA MANDALIKA CIRCUIT UPGRADES NEARING COMPLETION

• ONBOARD: A FULL LAP OF THE PERTAMINA MANDALIKA CIRCUIT

“Then the next wave arrives and so on and so on druing rce week. It’s a matter of being ahead of the curve, make sure you’ve got the most you can have done before the environment gets more dynamic because especially at a new circuit, people come in and are like ‘hey we want to put a TV camera there can you move this and that’, you know, those sorts of things.

“There’s so many things in terms of fitting out and preparing for the huge team that comes with MotoGP, the teams, and IRTA, all the entities and sponsors that make up such a huge event. So if you stay ahead of it with the things you know about, it then gives you the time to think about stuff that’s evolving. And obviously on that, the resurfacing that was undertaken very much changed how we had to programme those things, including the level of resources, so that we continued with all the other activities to be ready to host this week.

“It’s gone really well to be honest. The outcome we’ve had with the resurfacing has us really confident we’ve got as good an outcome you can have in such an incredibly short time,” continued Simon. “All the onsite, laboratory, physical testing, visual inspections of the surface, ITDC, MGPA, and R3, everyone definitely feels it has gone as well or better than we could have expected in such a short time. Normally you have a surface like this down for so much longer, three or four months before an event, so we’re waiting to see those first few bikes on track to see how it goes after such a short timeframe.

“Having said that, when the contractor PP completed the resurfacing last week, with all the right things in terms of construction – rolling etc, all the right tests, levels checked. It’s hot here so we’ve been cooling the pavement as much as you can and keeping everyone off it. Of course there are a few necessary activities, which we have kept to evenings and overnight, so that the effects of anything goes on the asphalt are minimised.

“We waited to the latest possible moment to utilise a specialist surface treatment machine, with very high pressure water jets to prepare the surface. This helps to get rid of the waste binder such as you see on a new road, you see it has a little sheen to it, the machine called a Trackjet was tested applying up to 2,500 PSI. We utilised a test area and eventually arrived at the right setting to get the results in terms of grip for the MotoGP bikes. And then undertook the works overnight, each night, the machine only moves at 600 metres an hour so when you’ve got 1.6km of track and need to make twelve passes to do the full track width, it takes time.

“Our pavement experts have subsequently tested the grip, versus untreated, and we’ve increased the grip level by about 80%. In fact at the moment it’s probably got more grip than the part of the track we didn’t resurface. So we feel like we’re in a really good place. We’re not nervous but of course with such a high profile event we are anxious to see how it all goes and how the two surfaces work together, and have a great MotoGP.”

The team on the ground in Mandalika have worked tirelessly on the updates. Everything that could have been done, has been done at the magnificent venue that’s ready to host its first motorcycle Grand Prix weekend.

“You hit the nail on the head when we say we’ve done everything we can. Not only has the huge team had to deal with the resurfacing, but we’ve also done various tests on the best method to prepare the other 2.6km with sweeping, washing, and the use of specialised FOD Boss mats to clean the track. Our pavement experts have spent as much time looking at that as the new surface because we don’t want the new asphalt to create a disparity with the old one.

“But yeah we’ve done everything we can and I am confident we couldn’t have gone through more preparation to try make it the best it can be. It’s an amazing layout this circuit, I don’t think anyone, anywhere that I’ve heard has said a bad word about the circuit and how good it can be for MotoGP racing. I think if you look at Lombok and Mandalika, it’s the most picturesque place you can be.

“The hill you can see at Turn 10 has a 360-degree view of the circuit, and MGPA has built three huge corporate villas in the last few weeks. It’s an incredible place, and everyone has made sure we’ve done everything that can be done to make the track surface is as good as the rest of the venue.”

The buzz across Indonesia during the Official MotoGP™ Test in February was incredible. Now the excitement levels are overflowing and it’s not just the on track action that Indonesia will be enjoying, events like MotoGP™ bring much more than just great racing and loud noise to an island like Lombok.

“It's only got better. The buzz is insane and I touched on it when we spoke a couple of weeks ago, there’s a sporting side, but events like MotoGP bring so much to certain places and this is one of the best examples of bringing MotoGP to the people. I told you all the locals are so excited, but last night getting out of here quite late and looking for somewhere to get a bite, there’s teams already out there eating, and restaurants that were sometimes only open a couple of nights a week are now open all week, and they’re full every night and we haven’t even started the event proper. So it’s just incredible. No one is talking about anything else at the moment.

“The government have worked incredibly hard and now we have a brand-new dual carriageway road out the front with a beautiful landscape, trees, and a fantastic looking circuit entrance with motorsport related sculptures along a sort of promenade. It’s really difficult to believe. When you’re here every day it still seems sudden how quickly they do it, but when you talk to the teams here, and people from MotoGP that were here for the test four weeks ago, they cannot believe the transformation. That’s a real positive.”

There will be some tests done on track tomorrow ahead of Moto3™, Moto2™, and MotoGP™ machines venturing out on Friday through to Sunday’s races. It promises to be a sensational three days of track action in Indonesia, and credit goes to Simon and the team for their indefatigable work to make the circuit as good as it can be.