MotoGP confirms race duration cuts

MotoGP has officially announced seven races on the 2018 world championship will be shortened as part of a “two-year transition” to help television broadcasters and the structure of race day programmes.

MotoGP is aiming to reduce the variation in race duration at each round and with limitations on fuel and engine regulations the governing body the FIM and organisers Dorna are unable to lengthen race distances. As a result seven races have been shortened for 2018.

These include the Americas GP, French GP, Catalan GP, Czech GP and San Marino GP all cut shorter by one lap, while the Spanish GP at Jerez is set to shortened by two laps and the Valencia GP by three laps.

In Moto2 the Americas, French, Catalan, German, Czech, San Marino, Japanese and Malaysian GPs have all been shortened by one lap with the Spanish and Valencia races slashed by two laps in 2018.

Finally, in Moto3 the Americas, Spanish, Catalan, Czech, Aragon, Malaysian and Valencia GPs become one lap shorter and the French GP is shortened by two laps.

In 2019 additional race duration cuts will be made in Moto2 and Moto3 but no further changes will be made to MotoGP.

One final tweak has been made to the MotoGP sporting regulations for the 2018 season regarding red flag procedures. If a red flag is shown after 75% or more of the race distance a result will be declared, extending the previous rule which stood at two-thirds race distance. The change does not apply to Moto2 and Moto3 where the two-thirds race distance rule remains untweaked.

The 2018 MotoGP world championship gets underway at the Losail International Circuit in Qatar on the 16-18 March which kicks off the longest campaign in the sport’s history with the race calendar expanded to 19 rounds with the debut of the Thailand round in early October.