About MotoGP
Key Rules
An understanding of some of the basic rules of MotoGP World Championship racing adds to the enjoyment of any viewer watching the Grands Prix, whether you are at the track in person or whether you are one of the millions keeping up with the action on television.
A full list of the entire FIM Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix rules and codes can be obtained from the FIM's official website, below follows a sample of some of the most important rules.
Breaking rules on track and/or ignoring flag instructions can result in various punishments for the riders depending on the seriousness of the infringement, namely: warnings, fines, ride through penalties, changes of race position, time penalties, disqualifications, withdrawals of Championship points, suspensions or exclusions.
Ride Through Procedure
The Ride Through Procedure penalty can be imposed on a rider if, for example, he has jump started and left his starting position before the red lights go off to signal the race has commenced.
During the race, the rider will be requested to ride through the pit lane and may then rejoin his fellow competitors on track. Stopping is not permitted and the rider must respect the 60 km/h speed limit in the pit lane. In case of infraction of this speed limit, the ride through procedure will be repeated and in the case of a second infraction of this speed limit, the black flag signifying disqualification will be shown to the rider.
After notification has been made to the rider's team that a ride through penalty is being imposed, a yellow board displaying the riders' numbers will be shown at the finish line and the information will also be displayed on the timekeeping monitors. Failure by the relevant rider to ride through, having been shown the board five times, will result in that rider being shown the black flag.
In the case where the race organisation has been unable to carry out the ride through penalty before the end of the race, the relevant rider will be inflicted with a time penalty of 20 seconds.
Wet & Dry Races
All races are categorised as either wet or dry by the Race Direction authority (comprising representatives from FIM, IRTA and Dorna) before the start. A board may be displayed on the grid to indicate the status of the race. If no board is displayed, the race is automatically dry. The purpose of this classification is to indicate to riders the consequence of varying climatic conditions during a race which of course affects their choice of tyres.
A white flag being waved at the flag marshal post during the race indicates that the Race Direction have decided to declare a wet race after it was originally declared dry. In this instance riders may change bikes mid-race to those equipped with wet tyres, although thus far having been introduced in 2005 the white flag rule has only been enforced on three occasions.
The first instance at the GP of Portugal in 2005 took place so late in the race that the riders stayed on their dry bikes, but at the Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island in 2006 the rain fell early and heavily enough to warrant a change of bikes which led to the dramatic spectacle of the entire MotoGP grid entering the pit lane mid-race to swap machinery – a scene which was repeated at Le Mans in May 2007.
Championship Points & Classification
Riders and Constructors (manufacturers) compete for respective FIM Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix titles. Teams, meanwhile, compete for a MotoGP Team Championship, which is different to the Constructors Championship as there are different teams competing on machinery from the same manufacturer, such as Fiat Yamaha and Tech3 Yamaha.
For riders, the points which count towards their World Championship total will be those gained in each race. For Constructors, only the highest placed motorcycle of a Constructor will gain points, according to the position in the race.
Teams in the MotoGP class are in principle comprised of two riders. All points scored by both riders in the Team, including substitutes or replacements, will count towards the Team Championship. In the case of a one rider Team then only the points scored by that rider will count towards the Team Championship. Wild card riders will not score points for the Team Championship. For each race, Championship points will be awarded on the following scale:
- 25 points
- 20 points
- 16 points
- 13 points
- 11 points
- 10 points
- 9 points
- 8 points
- 7 points
- 6 points
- 5 points
- 4 points
- 3 points
- 2 points
- 1 point
Results in all races will count for the Championship classification (this was not always the case historically as, for example, the best six results from a ten race season were counted).
In the event of a tie in the number of points, the final positions will be decided on the basis of the number of best results in the races (number of first places, number of second places etc.). In the event that there is still a tie then, the date in the Championship at which the highest place was achieved will be taken into account with precedence going to the latest result.
Some new rules have also been introduced for 2007 with regard to tyre usage, which are explained in the Tyres section.