2022 Indonesian MotoGP

The organisers of last weekend’s inaugural Mandalika Grand Prix hired a shaman to keep the rain away on race day.

During the biblical downpour that arrived just before the MotoGP main event and delayed the race by more than an hour the shaman solemnly walked up and down pit lane singing her incantations and ringing her bells. The weather took no notice.

In fact, perhaps the shaman hadn’t been employed to keep the rain away at all. Perhaps her job was to incantate the downpour, thereby cooling the boiling asphalt and ensuring riders didn’t need to race Michelin’s special, super-stiff rear slick, which had caused big problems for some riders and bikes during dry Friday and Saturday qualifying.