MotoGP confirms sprint races from 2023

Format to be half-distance and award reduced points to top nine drivers.
  • MotoGP’s Sunday GP race set to become last event in weekend schedule
  • Gryfyn also named title sponsor of San Marino GP for 2022 and 2023

MotoGP has confirmed the introduction of sprint races to the global motorcycling series’ weekend schedule from next season.

It was reported last week that the concept was under consideration. Now, the International Motorcycling Federation (FIM), the International Road-Racing Teams Association (IRTA), the Motorcycle Sports Manufacturers’ Association (MSMA) and Dorna Sports have confirmed the plans.

Sprint races will take place on the Saturday of each Grand Prix and be approximately 50 per cent of the full race distance. The sporting rules will be the same as a full-length Grand Prix.

The top nine drivers will score points on a reduced scale. The winner will get 12 points, nine points will go to the second-place finisher and seven points to the final podium position. From there, points will descend by one, with the last points scorer in ninth receiving one point.

Sprint races will not have any bearing on the grid for the main Grand Prix, unlike Formula One which uses the additional race as a replacement for traditional Saturday qualifying.

The Sunday Grand Prix race is also set to become the final event in the weekend schedule, following Moto2 and Moto3.

“It has been the aim of the championship; FIM, IRTA, and Dorna, from the beginning to try to improve every time, as much as we can, everything in the sport: the safety, the show, everything,” said Carmelo Ezpeleta, chief executive of Dorna Sports.

“We are working in all the areas but especially in that. We have been looking at other sports for different possibilities and we are trying to offer a better show, especially for the fans, the promoters, and television.

“It’s very important to us to offer a new schedule which will, in our opinion, improve our presence in all the Grands Prix.”

Elsewhere in MotoGP, it has been announced that Gryfyn, Animoca Brands’ soon-to-be-released non-fungible token (NFT) centric custodial wallet, will be title sponsor of the San Marino Grand Prix for the next two years.

“We are very proud to strengthen our partnership with Dorna Sports via our group company Gryfyn, and we look forward to the launch of new initiatives powered by Gryfyn to further activate MotoGP and other Dorna Sports brands in the emerging open metaverse,” said Yat Siu, co-founder and executive chairman of Animoca Brands.

BlackBook says…

Sprint races are an interesting play from MotoGP, but it could also been interpreted as the latest sign that the series is running out of ideas to halt its apparent decline. Notably, the British Grand Prix at Silverstone earlier this month was the event’s lowest crowd in its history.

Whether this drives audiences back to MotoGP is unknown at this early stage, but one revelation stands out. By pushing Sunday’s Grand Prix to the end of the weekend’s proceedings, clashes with Formula One become more likely. Can MotoGP afford to go toe-to-toe with the increasingly popular global motorsport series? In its current state, this may be a backwards step.

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