MotoGP confirms SPRINT RACES for 2023 season, **ALL RACES**

[Everso Biggyballies]

Oh dear Had not even thought about this concept given the alreaddy shorter Moto GP Races over F1.

I have not really even thought about the ramifications or indeed asked the question
"WILL IT INCREASE THE PLEASURE OF MY VIEWING EXPERIENCE[?/b]

Only vague details so far and obviously more details will follow. But it seems it is already decided and will be.... Every MotoGP weekend will now follow a Sprint format weekend with two races. The good news is that contrary to F1, MotoGP will use qualifying in the normal way.... the Sprint race will not form any part in grid setting.

MotoGP has announced it will introduce sprint races at all events next year.

In a departure from the long-established format, the world’s premier motorcycle championship will hold sprint races on Saturday afternoon of grand prix weekends.

A longer race will then be held on the Sunday afternoon as usual.

Unlike Formula 1’s partial move to a two-race format, however, the grid for the feature race will be set on the basis of qualifying results rather than those of the sprint encounter.

Race distance and points allocation will be exactly half that of the feature, FIM President Jorge Viegas has advised.


Thoughts or comments?


Here is the announcenent as shown in Autosport

MotoGP organisers Dorna Sports has officially confirmed the introduction of sprint races to the grand prix weekend format for the 2023 season.

MotoGP formally confirms sprint races for 2023 season

On Friday during the Austrian Grand Prix, Autosport revealed MotoGP was planning to introduce Formula 1-style sprint races at each event next season.

At a press conference on Saturday morning at the Red Bull Ring headed by Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta, FIM president Jorge Viega and president of the International Race Teams Association (IRTA) Herve Poncharal, sprint races were officially unveiled.

When the idea was put to the riders by the media on Friday at the Red Bull Ring, the reaction was mixed, with reigning world champion Fabio Quartararo calling it “totally stupid”.

Many riders also revealed that they had not been privy to any discussions about sprint races, with it thought they were given official confirmation in Friday evening’s safety commission meeting.

The sprint races will take place at every single grand prix in 2023 and will be run on Saturdays to half-distance of the main race, with half points awarded.

MotoGP has confirmed that the addition of sprint races in 2023 will not swell the amount of track time on grand prix weekends.

It is thought that one practice session and the 20-minute warm-up on Sundays will be removed for the MotoGP class to make room for the sprint race. As a result, engine and tyre allocation will not change from what is used currently.

It was also confirmed that the sprint race will not have any bearing on the starting grid of the main grand prix, meaning qualifying will remain in place.

This is different to F1’s sprint format, which uses the short race as a qualifying, while the main qualifying session is used to decide the grid order for the sprint contest.

All the manufacturers and all the teams were in favour of the proposal when it was first talked about back in the summer break.

Tech3 boss Poncharal noted that MotoGP has looked at other motorsports for ideas to improve the spectacle, and said it was “stupid” not to think of ways to change even if the racing in MotoGP is generally considered to be exciting.

This followed a comment made by the FIM president, who admitted MotoGP “needs more spectators” and a “better show”.

Ezpeleta also said no consideration has been given to reducing the calendar size to accommodate the additional races.

https://www.autosport.com/motogp/news/m ... /10355191/

[Vassago]

I'm with Quartararo on this one

MotoGP was labelled as having the best racing ever with even Aprilia suddenly finding success too. And FIM wants "more excitement"? Yeah, right. Looks like just another money grab for TV rights

[Everso Biggyballies]

I'm with Quartararo on this one

MotoGP was labelled as having the best racing ever with even Aprilia suddenly finding success too. And FIM wants "more excitement"? Yeah, right. Looks like just another money grab for TV rights

Yeah a lot of the commentary teams were talking it up, but once you realise a lot of what they are saying is "said by the hand that feeds them", stuff they have been fed by Dorna with a promote our message and life will be easy accessing stuff .... say the wrong thing by Dorna and see how quickly your paddock freedoms disappear up your arse.

My often used favourite old time saying applies...... If it aint broke dont fix it.

[Everso Biggyballies]

OK so now we have details of how the new form MotoGP round will take.

Remember from next year every event will be run as a Sprint format.
The Sprint race is now pqrt of the traditional weekend at all races

Friday action will still be comprised of two free practice sessions, although they will be longer than the 45-minute affairs of the present day by an as yet unspecified amount of time.

Saturday, however, is where the key changes occur.

One practice session will be dropped, with a half-hour Free Practice 3 hit-out which will be “similar to the current FP4” which exists for race set-up work and does not determine the starting order for qualifying.

FP3 will be followed by Qualifying 1 and Qualifying 2, with the Sprint Race to take place at 15:00.

Said sprint will be half of the full race distance, and pay approximately half the points (See below for points allocation), but the same sporting rules will otherwise apply.

In a departure from Formula 1’s sprint race format, Q1 and Q2 will set the grid for both MotoGP races of the weekend.

“Riders must be free to race on Saturday, without the need to consider their Sunday grid position,” read MotoGP’s format release, in part.

In another change to the timetable, each block of track activity will now be Moto3, followed by Moto2 and then MotoGP, at every point of the weekend.

At present, standard procedure is for Moto2 to go after MotoGP until race day.

Sunday will still be the big day, with what are being referred to as the “Grand Prix races” for all three classes.

MotoGP’s announcement also advises that, “The target will also be to have MotoGP as the last race on Sunday at each event, allowing for an improved podium ceremony, on-track celebrations and the possibility of fan track invasions at each venue.”

According to both Dorna Sports CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta and FIM President Jorge Viegas, the change is about improving the show at events.

Points allocation

Pos Sprint race Full length race,
1 ......12 ........ 25
2 ......9........... 20
3 ......7........... 16
4 ......6........... 13
5 ......5........... 11
6 ......4............ 10
7 ......3............ 9
8 ......2............ 8
9 ......1........... 7
10 ................ 6
11 ................5
12 ................4
13 ................3
14 ................2
15 ................1

[MonteCristo]

Oh dear.

Oh, oh dear.

[Everso Biggyballies]

MOTOGP SPRINT WINS WON’T COUNT AS FULL WINS AFTER ALL

A bit of too-ing and fro-ing re the way stats will be done......

FIM President Jorge Viegas seemingly suggested that despite being half the distance of a full grand prix and only awarding less than half the points, the new races would still be included in a racer’s palmares.
This is already the case in MotoGP’s sister series World Superbikes, which has a ‘Superpole’ sprint race between the first and second full-length races.

“I think we can better think about this,” Viegas said, “but a victory is a victory. There is a podium, there is a trophy, so why not make it count?”

However, those comments have already been dialled back on by Dorna’s Sporting managing director Carlos Ezpeleta, ..... Dorna has seemingly already seemingly reversed one decision, by clarifying that sprint race success will not count towards a rider’s record of grand prix wins and podiums.

The series was issuing quotes from him on Sunday morning to clarify that sprint races would instead become an extra line item in a rider’s profile and not as per the FIM comments.

Thats something..

[Everso Biggyballies]

Whether we like the concept of Sprint racing in MotoGP or not, it is happening and plans are well advanced.... all the details have now been approved by the "Grand Prix Commission". It will cover every race weekend. Although only for the MotoGP class the format for all classes has been changed to accommodate the addition.

MotoGP announces full details of sprint race format, rules

From next year, the standard Sunday race will be supplemented by an approx. half points sprint (points confirmed below) on Saturday afternoon.

Now, the standard weekend schedule has been released, with changes decided on by the Grand Prix Commission (GPC) for all three world championship classes.

For MotoGP, the Sprint Race effectively replaces one of the existing four free practice sessions.

Practice 1 remains 45 minutes long but Practice 2 will be extended to 60 minutes, with those two sessions to determine the starting order for Qualifying 1.

Saturday morning’s Free Practice 3 will essentially function as the present-day Free Practice 4, running for 30 minutes, with no formal bearing on qualifying and hence is an opportunity for teams to concentrate on race set-ups.

The two-part qualifying format remains, with the Sprint Race to be run to half the number of laps of the traditional Grand Prix Race (rounded down where necessary).

Furthermore, the Warm Up session has been trimmed to 10 minutes from 20.

As previously announced, points for Sprint Races will be awarded from first to ninth as follows: 12, 9, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Unlike in Formula 1, qualifying will determine the grid for both races but penalties to be served in a race will only apply to Sunday’s Grand Prix encounter.

For example, in the case that a rider incurs a long lap penalty or grid penalty in a practice session, it will only apply in the Grand Prix Race.

For the junior classes, races and practice time have also been snipped, and the Warm Up axed altogether.

“To bring Moto2 and Moto3 in line with other competitions on similar machinery, it has been agreed to target new approximate race durations of 36 minutes for Moto2 and 34 minutes for Moto3,” the GPC explained.

All Moto3 practice sessions will be shorter, as will FP3 for Moto2, and only the first two sessions will count with respect to which riders drop into Q1 and which go directly to Q2, just like MotoGP.

MotoGP 2023 standard event format

Start Finish Class Session Length
Thursday
Media Day

Friday
09:00 09:35 Moto3 Practice 1 35 min
09:50 10:30 Moto2 Practice 1 40 min
10:45 11:30 MotoGP Practice 1 45 min
13:15 13:50 Moto3 Practice 2 35 min
14:05 14:45 Moto2 Practice 2 40 min
15:00 16:00 MotoGP Practice 2 60 min

Saturday
08:40 09:10 Moto3 Free Practice 30 min
09:25 09:55 Moto2 Free Practice 30 min
10:10 10:40 MotoGP Free Practice 30 min
10:50 11:05 MotoGP Qualifying 1 15 min
11:15 11:30 MotoGP Qualifying 2 15 min
12:55 13:10 Moto3 Qualifying 1 15 min
13:20 13:35 Moto3 Qualifying 2 15 min
13:50 14:05 Moto2 Qualifying 1 15 min
14:15 14:30 Moto2 Qualifying 2 15 min
15:00 MotoGP Sprint Race

Sunday
09:40 09:50 MotoGP Warm Up 10 min
10:00 MotoGP Rider Fan Show 30 min
11:00 Moto3 GP Race
12:15 Moto2 GP Race
14:00 MotoGP GP Race

https://www.speedcafe.com/2022/09/18/mo ... mat-rules/

[Vassago]

There is no 2023 banter thread yet so I might as well post it here. 2023 calendar has been released with 21 rounds. It will be a backloaded schedule with 10 of 21 rounds scheduled for September-October-November with a heavy dose of Asian races along with Australia. We have a huge early gap in the spring, only one race in May (Le Mans) before a four week break until Mugello. Very odd indeed. Kazakhstan gets the 9th July date before the usual four week summer break (it was longer in 2022 after Finland went belly up). Losail will be the penultimate round of the championship. Aragon has been canned and it's place on the calendar has been taken by India.