Qatar’s opening MotoGP race will now run if it rains following an experiment by safety chiefs Franco Uncini and Loris Capirossi.

Previously, it was thought that a wet surface and glare from the floodlights would make it impossible to race at the desert circuit but Capirossi and Uncini have attended when the track was soaked with the lights on and there was no discernible problem.

This measure will halt any repetition of the 2009 round when the heavens opened and the race had to be postponed until Monday.