Silverstone’s 12th round of the 2018 MotoGP World Championship was forced to a premature close after deteriorating weather conditions were deemed unsafe to continue racing.

After the rain came down on Saturday and track conditions caused delays, the decision was taken to change the schedule for Sunday at the British grand prix.

On Sunday, warm up sessions began in the morning with MotoGP out first, while the weather began to steadily worsen. By the time riders were on the grid awaiting lights out for the premier class race, they were worse still and the decision was taken to delay the start.

That began a long day of delays, with conditions continually monitored, until a decision was reached: conditions were not safe to race in and the track surface was too dangerous in the rain.

“It was obvious the track conditions weren’t safe,” said race director Mike Webb. “After a consultation with the riders we delayed the start to see if conditions would improve. We have reached the point where even though the rain is getting less, the circuit is still not in a condition where we can safely run races. So, we’ve taken the very difficult and regrettable decision to cancel.

“We’ve had a number of years here in very wet conditions recently with the old surface and been able to run races. This year, with the new surface, it’s the first time we’ve encountered quite so much standing water in critical places on the track.

“Yes, it’s a direct result of the track surface, I must say from the circuit point of view, the staff have done an unbelievable effort over the whole weekend, not just today, but an enormous effort to make the track safe. Until the last minute that was still working but unfortunately, we couldn’t battle nature.

“The climate of the area means we’ve got to expect rain and the surface has to be able to handle it. They’ve done an enormous job over this weekend to try and improve things, which they have, but the nature of the surface means we’ve reached this point.”

The MotoGP World Championship will now head to Misano in Italy on 9 September for the 13th round of the prestigious series.