Racing at the Speed of Light: What are MotoGP Sprint Races?
Do you love high speed thrills, chills and spills? If so, you’ll want to know all about MotoGP sprint races! As the world’s premier motorcycle racing series, MotoGP has been thrilling audiences with its high speed antics since 1949.
But what exactly is the newly added MotoGP sprint race?
The Basics
The MotoGP sprint race is short, approximately of 20-25 minute duration that takes place on the Saturday of the MotoGP race weekend. They typically follow the same format as a traditional MotoGP race, with riders taking off from a standing start, after the warm-up lap, and racing around a circuit for a pre-determined number of laps. The difference is that the race is shorter, and its all out racing from the moment the starters lights go off, because its so short!
Sprint races have been introduced to the MotoGP series from this year onwards and are sure to become an important and exciting part of the race weekend schedule.
They offer exciting and fast-paced racing and add to the traditional longer MotoGP race format, which takes place on the Sunday of the race weekend. Sprint races provide riders with the opportunity to get extra points during the course of a weekend.
The MotoGP sprint races follow a standardised format.
Riders begin the race from a standing start, and will race around the circuit for a total of 20-25 minutes, as long as it takes to race for half the distance of the main race . During the race, as in the main race, provided the weather remains dry, riders are not allowed to make any tyre changes, so they must use the same set of tyres for the entire race. Once the pre-determined number of race distance laps are up, the race is over and the riders’ positions at the time of the finish are their final placements. At the end of the race, the top three riders will be awarded points based on their finishing positions. Half of the normal points are alloted to the top 9 finishers as compared to the main Sunday race, the winner receiving 12 points, the second place rider receiving 9 points, the third place rider receiving 7 points, the 4th rider 6 points, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 point for 9th placed rider. No points are awarded for riders finishing after 9th position.
The Benefits
MotoGP sprint races offer a number of benefits to riders, teams and spectators. For riders, it provides the opportunity to gain extra points during the course of a weekend of racing, and for teams it offers the chance to test out new strategies and tactics in a shorter race format.
Because the sprint race is of shorter distance, softer, grippier tyre compounds can be used, with lesser fuel load in the bike, resulting in higher speeds and thetefore faster lap times.
For spectators, it offers a thrilling 20-25 minutes of additional all-out, mind numbing, high speed racing action, with the added excitement of seeing riders battle it out for extra points, going all-out from the start, because of the shortened format. Sprint races are also a great way for riders to get extra practice and experience in this shorter race format, which can be valuable for those who are new to MotoGP racing.
MotoGP sprint races are a great way to add some extra excitement and intrigue to a weekend of MotoGP racing. They offer riders the opportunity to gain extra points, teams the chance to test out new strategies and tactics, and spectators the thrill of additional minutes of high speed racing action. So if you’re looking for an adrenaline-filled racing experience, then MotoGP sprint races are definitely for you!