MotoGP considering significant rule change for 2027 season

MotoGP is reportedly considering ditching its two bikes per rider rule from 2027 as part of cost-saving measures that would have several major impacts.

MotoGP currently operates with every rider having two bikes to use during each session of a race weekend.

This allows riders to switch between machinery during practice sessions while refining set-ups, as well as having a spare ready to go should they crash one of their machines.

More notably, the two-bike rule allows for bike swaps during flag-to-flag races, which means riders can change tyres without having to stop in pitlane.

Prior to the flag-to-flag rule in 2006, if conditions changed significantly in a race where a different tyre was needed, it would be red-flagged.

However, according to Motorsport, the manufacturers are discussing with MotoGP Sports Entertainment and Liberty about reducing the number of bikes available to each rider to one from as early as next year.

The main driving force behind this is to cut down on costs.

Any change to the sporting rules would have to be ratified by the Grand Prix Commission.

Single-bike rule would have huge ramifications

MotoGP is something of an outlier in motorsport by having two bikes available to a rider each session.

In Moto2 and Moto3, a single-bike rule has been in place since 2010.

In World Superbikes, only one bike is used per rider, though a spare one is available should a machine be too damaged. Use of the spare bike has to be granted by the technical direction.

The most significant impact a change to having one bike would have on MotoGP is during wet races.

Where currently a rider can swap bikes depending on conditions, MotoGP would either need to return to halting races in changeable weather or implement a pitstop.

This is what happens in WorldSBK flag-to-flag races, with a minimum pit intervention time set to allow for safe changing of tyres.

In the event of a crash for a rider during a practice or qualifying, their session would effectively be over without having a spare bike.

At the recent Catalan Grand Prix, the likes of Pedro Acosta and Fabio Di Giannantonio - who won the race - likely wouldn’t have been able to take the restart due to the damage to their number one bikes.