MotoGP BREAKING: Saturday Sprint races will be introduced in 2023 at all Grands Prix

MotoGP organizers (FIM, IRTA, MSMA and Dorna Sports) have announced that Saturday short races (also known as ‘Sprint races’) will be introduced in all categories of the MotoGP™ World Championship from 2023.

The format is already used in a similar way in the WorldSBK Championship, and also in Formula 1, but in these two categories, it works to define the starting grid of the main race on Sunday.

In MotoGP, Moto2 and Moto3, races on Saturdays will not define the grid for Sunday’s race, with the Q1 and Q2 qualification system remaining. They will serve to increase the engagement of the media, TV, spectators and fans present at the circuits, in addition to increasing the action and excitement on Saturday afternoons.

The Saturday race will be half the duration of the main race and will therefore distribute half the points. According to them, there will be no increase in work or activities on the weekend, that is, this race will fit into the program and will occupy the time of FP3.

On Friday, the two free practices (FP1 and FP2) will take place, but with a few more minutes. The combined time of these two practices will define who goes through to Q1 and Q2. On Saturday, there will be no FP3, there will only be a 30 minute free practice, similar to FP4, which does not count towards qualification. After the qualifiers (Q1 and Q2), the Sprint race will take place, starting at 15:00 local time.

With that, they say that it will not increase the workload on the riders, that is, the same km traveled today in a weekend, will be practically the same with the adoption of an extra race.

In Sprint races, points will be awarded as follows:

– 1st Position: 12
– 2nd Position: 9
– 3rd Position: 7
– 4th Position: 6
– 5th Position: 5
– 6th Position: 4
– 7th position: 3
– 8th position: 2
– 9th position: 1

Lastly, they report that the aim 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 invasions at each venue.

Anyway, for more information about MotoGP, visit https://www.motogp.com/.

photos: MotoGP