Fuel limit, penalties, schedule - MotoGP Sprint race updates

The main features of the new Saturday afternoon race - half-distance, half-points and same grid as the Sunday race - were confirmed last month, but with further details subject to talks with the manufacturers, teams and riders.

On the technical side, some teams raised concerns over the absence of a reduced fuel limit for the Sprint race, which would allow engines to be run in flat out ‘qualifying spec’ for the entire distance.

That has now been addressed with, Carlos Ezpeleta, Chief Sporting Officer at Dorna, announcing that a 12-litre limit will be in place for the Sprint race, broadly proportional to the 22-litre for the normal distance.

Might that now mean some teams fit special smaller tanks and use the space gained to create a more aerodynamic rider position, for example?

• Marc Marquez ‘happy with myself’, Kalex swingarm ‘not clear’
• Crutchlow: Toprak should ‘take the jump’ to MotoGP, even with a satellite team
• 2023 MotoGP World Championship - Final rider line-up

Another grey area concerned penalties and whether any Long Laps picked up in practice, for example, would then be served in the Sprint or GP race.

Ezpeleta explained that pre-race penalties will be carried over to  the Sunday, with only in-race infringements likely to be served during the Sprint. Track limit warnings will also be reduced from 5 to 3, compared to the full GP race.

In terms of the weekend schedule, the main changes are the removal of Sunday morning warm-up for the Moto2 and Moto3 classes, reduction of MotoGP warm-up from 20 to 10 minutes and extension of Friday afternoon MotoGP practice from 45 to 60 minutes.

The Sprint race podium will ‘probably’ be held in a different location to the Sunday podium, while MotoGP riders will take part in a new 30-minute fan show after the warm-up on Sundays.

Sprint results will not count as ‘Grand Prix’ results and instead be listed separately on each rider’s official profile. The Saturday races, at every round, will be broadcast as part of the existing MotoGP TV packages.