MotoGP, Portugal Portimão: times for the premiere of the new era

This time, we are there, and the final countdown began this Monday for an opening of the MotoGP championship which will be effective on a track in Portimao, setting for the Portuguese Grand Prix. And make no mistake: with the new format of meetings introducing a sprint race on Saturday, or the formalization of a single tire pressure sensor, it is indeed a new era that is dawning. opens, also celebrating an unprecedented aspect of the title race with its 42 starts and its now 37 and no longer just 25 points to be collected each weekend. Here are the schedules for this premiere which will be widely watched, with a reminder of the new situation...

A new situation which is therefore symbolized by these sprint races which will take place at all the Grands Prix of the season. They will not decide the grid for the main race, the selection for Q2 of which will begin from FP1… They will cover 50% of the distance of a Grand Prix. If the main race has an odd number of laps, the sprint will round down. The races will therefore last approximately 20 minutes. Points will be awarded to the first nine: 12/9/7/6/5/4/3/2/1. A sprint success does not count as a Grand Prix victory in the statistics.

As far as the Sporting Regulations are concerned, the sprint races will operate in the same way as the main races. Which concretely means that the flag to flag scenario can take place and that the races can be restarted over at least five turns, with a quick restart procedure applied. Instead of four, only two track limit violations will be allowed and the maximum fuel consumption is 12 liters. Manufacturers have the right to make tanks smaller.

Portugal makes history

To take into account the sprint on the program, the sessions will be reviewed during a Grand Prix weekend. THE Moto3 will therefore organize two 35-minute sessions on Friday, Moto2 two 40-minute sessions. THE MotoGP will have 45 minutes in the morning and one hour in the afternoon. From now on, these sessions will decide the progression to Q2. There will then be 30-minute “free practices” for all classes on Saturday morning, before the start of the MotoGP qualifying series at 10:50 a.m. The sprint race will then take place at 15:00 p.m. local time.

Sunday is also new: warm-ups in lower classes will be canceled and the session MotoGP shortened to 10 minutes. After the MotoGP warm-up on Sunday morning, there will be a Rider Fan Show where the public can interact with their stars. Here is a picture of the new program.