Wildcard entries and schedule changes among latest GPC updates

The Grand Prix Commission have announced some decisions that will come into effect both immediately and in 2024

The Grand Prix Commission, composed of Messrs. Carmelo Ezpeleta (Dorna, Chairman), Jorge Viegas (FIM), Herve Poncharal (IRTA) and Biense Bierma (MSMA), assisted by Carlos Ezpeleta (Dorna), Mike Trimby (IRTA, Secretary of the meeting) and Corrado Cecchinelli (Director of Technology), in a meeting held at Misano on 08 September 2023, made the following decisions.

Effective immediately:

Definition of the finish of a lap

On very rare occasions there are situations where a rider becomes separated from his machine and they cross the finish line separately. The following regulation has been approved to address this issue:

In case the rider is not in contact with the machine, the finish time is determined by the first part of the rider or machine to cross the finish line, whichever arrives last.

In all cases, any infractions including but not limited to track limits and advantage gained will be taken into account when determining the validity of the lap. This includes cases where the machine and rider are separated, in which case both machine and rider will be taken into account in determining infractions.

Schedule change – MotoGP™ class Warm Up Session

In response to a request from the MotoGP™ class riders, the Sunday morning Warm Up will start five minutes earlier in order to give longer between the session and the parade lap. (This change had already been made for the San Marino GP via a decision of Race Direction).

Evolution of the Regulations and notifications with new means of communication (emails, applications, Sportity, etc)

In order to clarify communication methods from Race Direction, the Stewards or Officials of the meeting on disciplinary matters, it was agreed that communication to the teams or riders could be done via writing, email, or other electronic means.

Effective for 2024: Wildcard entries

Moto3™ and Moto2™ classes

To enable teams to make arrangements for the shipping of machines and support material, the approval deadline for wild card applications has been changed to 90 days before an event outside of Europe. For events in Europe, the deadline is unchanged at 45 days before the event.

MotoGP™ class

The maximum number of MotoGP™ class wildcard entries at an event has been increased from two to three. Currently, if there are more applications than places available, the decision on which entries to accept is made by the Grand Prix Commission. In future, the decision will be made in accordance with a new protocol which takes into account the number of wildcards already allocated to a factory in the current season.

In a situation when applicants have already been allocated an equal number of wildcard entries then the decision will be based on current and, at the beginning of the season, previous season rankings in the Constructor Championship with lower-placed factories having priority.

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