What is a MotoGP Sprint Race?

The MotoGP Sprint race was added to the World Championship calendar as a regular feature on the Saturday afternoon of Grand Prix weekends as of the beginning of the 2023 season.

The Tissot Sprint, as it is officially titled, is an adrenaline-pumping, action-packed, shorter version of the feature-length Sunday Grand Prix race. It takes place over approximately half the distance of a MotoGP race with just under half the amount of points being awarded to the winner.

The winner of a Grand Prix race on a Sunday gets 25 points, whilst the winner of the MotoGP Sprint on a Saturday gets 12 points. We will run through the full point scoring system in the MotoGP Sprint later in this article, which is the full comprehensive guide to how the MotoGP Sprint works.

It is an exciting additional format which takes place after qualifying on Saturday afternoons, adding to the overall entertainment during Grand Prix weekends.

The MotoGP Sprint race enhances the intrigue and the battle between the riders as to who will gain the most points and become the MotoGP World Champion at the end of the season.

What Is a MotoGP Sprint Race in detail?

The Sprint became part of the MotoGP calendar at the start of the 2023 season. Overall, the MotoGP Sprint rules are the same as for a normal feature length Sunday Grand Prix race, the only difference being that it's half the number of laps and half the points on offer.

The victor gets 12 points, with second taking nine, third place gets seven, before then counting down to the last points finisher in ninth.

This is the MotoGP Sprint points system versus the points system of the full Sunday Grand Prix races:

This points allocation system maintains a healthy balance between the Sprint and the full-length race, meaning that the Sunday Grand Prix still carries the greatest significance and impact on the World Championship standings.

However, the points available via the MotoGP Sprint format still provide a big enough reward for riders to be highly competitive in these quickfire Saturday showdowns, making them influential in the overall championship standings.

Saturday's Sprint race has no effect on the grid for Sunday's race, meaning Q1 and Q2 (the two 15-minute qualifying sessions) on Saturday morning set the grid for both races.

History of the Sprint Race in MotoGP

When the MotoGP Sprint format was announced and became part of the Grand Prix weekend, MotoGP Chief Sporting Officer Carlos Ezpeleta commented: “The introduction of a Sprint race on Saturday afternoon at 3pm at all events, for sure creates a better show for the fans at home and for the fans at the circuits. It will be 50% approximately of the race distance. The points awarded are 12 for the winner, nine for second place, and then so on. The qualifying on Saturday will decide the grid for both the Sprint race and Sunday. So the riders are free to race in the Sprint, they don't have to think about the grid position of the next day.”

MotoGP’s first-ever Tissot Sprint at the 2023 Grande Prémio de Portugal was won by Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia as he started the successful defence of his MotoGP title. Reacting to the victory in the new format, Bagnaia said: “Sincerely, I'm really happy about it. The target was finishing in the top three and we managed to win.”

“For sure it was quite strange the feeling I had in the Sprint, because the conditions were totally different compared to the previous session this morning. The rear (tyre) grip was very low and the wind was very strong, so I just tried to take time to consider everything, to see if it was possible to win. Then, when I saw that Jorge (Martin) was starting to have some problems with the front (tyre), I just tried to be close and he made a little mistake and I used it to overtake. But in any case, I'm very happy.”

The then World Champion took the knowledge gained from the Sprint to help decide on tyre choice for the Sunday’s Grand Prix race, which he would go on to win by 0.687s from Aprilia’s Maverick Viñales. Bagnaia stated, “We are ready for tomorrow and I know that I will use the medium rear tyre that I think is better for me. It is very important because it's a very long season and you need to be consistent everywhere.”

At the time the new Sprint format became part of MotoGP, former Suzuki and Yamaha Team Manager Davide Brivio gave his reaction to the difference the shorter Saturday racing format would make to the championship.

The experienced Italian – who is now Team Principal for Trackhouse Racing - spoke to motogp.com in March 2023, saying: "It's very interesting, of course, it changes the rules of the game. I think there are a lot of points on the table for Saturday, so it's interesting to see. The Sprint can definitely change the outcome of the Championship."

Brivio also noted, “You can't even say you're going to wait for Sunday because it could be too late, you might have already lost too many points. Of course, the fact that all races are like this is challenging, so it is interesting to see.”

How the MotoGP Sprint fits into the weekend schedule

At each Grand Prix the standard schedule for the premier class, the highest level of racing, looks like this:

·   Friday morning, 45-minute session: Free Practice 1

·   Friday afternoon, 60-minute session: Practice (top 10 riders gain automatic entry into Q2)

·   Saturday morning, 30-minute session: Free Practice 2

·   Saturday morning, 15-minute session: Qualifying 1 (Q1)

·   Saturday morning, 15-minute session: Qualifying 2 (Q2)

·   Saturday afternoon: MotoGP™ Sprint

·   Sunday morning: Warm-up

·   Sunday afternoon: Race

The free practice sessions allow riders to get used to track conditions and make adjustments to their bikes. MotoGP also has a Friday afternoon Practice, a 60-minute session in which the riders have the full hour to set the fastest single lap time possible and the ten riders with the best times automatically qualify for Q2.

The riders who didn't automatically make it into Q2 go into Q1. The two riders with the fastest Q1 times then get to move on to Q2. The riders who don't move into Q2 from Q1 are given grid positions for the Sprint and the Sunday race starting from the first spot available outside of Q2. So the fastest non-Q2 qualifier is given 13th place on the grid.

The 12 riders in Q2 then compete for pole position and the top spots on the grid for the Saturday Sprint and full Sunday Grand Prix race.

Arguably, pole and high grid positions for the Sprint are more advantageous as there is less opportunity to make up ground in the shorter race, though of course the points awarded for doing so are less in the shorter format.

Taking the data from the full 2024 season, the average MotoGP full Sunday race distance that year was 114.7km, with the average race winning time being 40’54”.

The rules of MotoGP™ state: ‘the MotoGP Sprint will in principle be approximately 50% of the number of laps of the MotoGP race,’ whilst for a MotoGP race, the maximum limit for fuel is 22 litres, and for a Sprint it is 12 litres.

How the Sprint Race Affects the Championship

A good example of how important the Sprint results are to the final MotoGP standings came in 2024.

The eventual MotoGP™ World Champion that season was Jorge Martin who won three full Sunday races to runner-up Francesco Bagnaia’s 11, with both taking seven Sprint wins. However, Martin finished in the top three on 16 occasions in Sprints, scoring 43 points more than Bagnaia on Saturdays in 2024. That helped the Spaniard to counter the 33 points by which Bagnaia outperformed him in Sunday races and Martin won the 2024 MotoGP™ title by 10 points from his Italian rival.

In 2025, Marc Marquez completed his amazing return to the pinnacle of the most exciting sport on earth, winning his seventh premier class title with five Grands Prix to spare. He clinched the MotoGP crown in September at Motegi, by finishing second in the Grand Prix of Japan behind his Ducati teammate Francesco Bagnaia on the Sunday, having also finished in second place to Bagnaia in the Sprint on the Saturday.

Before that 17th Grand Prix of 2025, Marquez had already won 14 Sprints and taken 11 Sunday GP wins, setting him up for the title win in Japan, 2184 days after his last World Championship title in 2019. So Sprint points have already clearly proven their value in the destiny of the championship.

Differences Between Sprint Races and Main MotoGP Races

MotoGP™ Sprints are usually finished by the winning rider in less than half the duration of Sunday's race, even when the number of laps is exactly 50% of the Grand Prix race. That is for several reasons, including that the bikes carry far less fuel in the Sprint, so they weigh less and can go faster.

Meanwhile the shorter distance allows riders to push themselves to the limit without worrying about issues which typically affect longer races, such as tyre wear and physical fatigue.

In MotoGP’s longer races, riders have to be wary of tyre wear in the final laps, but can recover from a poor start. In the Tissot Sprint, there is little reprieve for a poor qualifying result or a sub-optimal launch from the start line.

As Davide Brivio puts it: “It's interesting to see a short race where you can play everything without worrying about tyre consumption. But also, in the longer MotoGP race, the rider can recover from further back. In the Sprint, the start is very important, as it’s difficult to recover and it’s so important to qualify well. That's why it's a different game.”

A welcome addition to the MotoGP schedule

Overall, the introduction of the MotoGP Sprint has enhanced the excitement and increased the competitiveness of the World Championship. With more points available on Saturdays, the demands on the riders are greater than ever.

But MotoGP’s superhuman athletes have risen to the challenge. The twists and turns of the MotoGP Sprint mean the World Championship chase is ever more thrilling for fans.

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