MotoGP announces new qualifying format

MOTEGI (AFP) –

MotoGP Honda rider Casey Stoner of Australia (front) overtakes BQR rider Ivan Silva of Spain during the MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix at the Twin Ring Motegi circuit in Motegi, on October 13. MotoGP organisers have announced a new split qualifying system for next year which involves seeding riders into two groups based on free-practice results.

MotoGP organisers have announced a new split qualifying system for next year which involves seeding riders into two groups based on free-practice results.

The MotoGP starting grid is currently decided on riders’ speed during an hour-long qualifying session on Saturday afternoon following two 45-minute free-practice sessions.

Under the new format riders will be seeded into two qualifying groups based on their performances in those three free-practice rides, a MotoGP statement said.

The 10 fastest riders from the free-practice sessions will be placed in Qualifying Practice 2 (QP2) with the others taking part in Qualifying Practice 1 (QP1), the statement added.

The fastest two riders in in the 15-minute QP1 will advance to QP2, where a total of 12 riders will compete for the first 12 grid positions in a separate 15-minute session.

The rest of the riders will take the remaining positions according to their times in QP1.

The new procedure applies for MotoGP only.