MotoGp, first free practice without time trial: riders’ protest accepted

The MotoGP riders can breathe a – brief but intense – sigh of relief: from the next round (Silverstone, England, from 4 to 6 August) the first free practice session on Friday morning will be run without the nightmare of the stopwatch. because the times will eventually not be considered useful for direct entry into Q2 on Saturday. Free, but truly free. The unanimous decision of the Grand Prix Commission – made up of Carmelo Ezpeleta (Dorna president), Paul Duparc (Fim), Hervé Poncharal (IRTA) and Biense Bierma (MSMA), assisted by the president of the Fim, Jorge Viegas, together with Carlos Ezpeleta (Dorna ), Mike Trimby (IRTA) and Corrado Cecchinelli (director of technology) – was taken this afternoon and has immediate value.

The protests of the athletes, who this year complained of not having the material time to set up their bikes (the battle with the clock started from the initial lap), were accepted. The first 45-minute free practice session will continue to be called Fp1, which stands for: Free Practice 1. But the hands of the clock won’t be noticed. The one-hour afternoon session simply becomes “Practice”: the times set by the riders will count towards establishing the first 10 who will enter directly into Q2. The half-hour Saturday morning session becomes Fp2.

So, in summary: on Friday morning, 45 minutes of Fp1; to follow, in the early afternoon, an hour of Practice valid for the direct entry of the best 10 in Q2; Saturday morning, 30 minutes of FP1 followed by a quarter of an hour of Q1 and another quarter of an hour of Q2 to define the grid; in the afternoon, at 3 pm, the sprint race; Sunday, the traditional gp.