https://www.crash.net/motogp/news/1010217/1/motogp-confirms-sprint-races-2023-world-championship Seems to be a bit of a marmite decision right now!
From a spectator point of view I can see the attraction. Tyres have long been the limiting factor, where the riders go (relatively) conservatively until 5 laps from the end. A half distance race on the Saturday would allow the riders to worry less about tyre management and race closer to the limits of their machines performance. I can see the concerns of the riders though. A sprint race will definitely be more demanding for them than a practice session it replaces.
Just have to suck it and see , dunno what that means for engine and tyre allocations ? One bike set for sprint and one for the race ?? IMO hey need to drop some of the rules and regs, this is supposed to be a prototype class, by making them all the same they are killing the sport, my opinion only.
Very much against this. MotoGP is basically turning into world superbikes Mk2 and there isn't really room for both. I used to watch both but BT took Eurosport off their sport channels so now i only have MotoGP and i will be ending this at the end of the season and going to Eurosport instead to watch world superbikes and BSB .
Not really is it? Just taking a couple of the good sides of WSB and "not standing still" especially with falling crowds. What else would you have done?
Moto GP is just the italian /Spanish championship now. The falling crowds are more to do with a lack of variety in teams and riders .If you want to see a Spanish or italian rider win on a Ducati its fine. but if you want to see the top manafactureres next season like Suzuki. Kawasaki. BMW, Honda Ducati and Yamaha its got to be WSB In the days of 500 2 strokes it could stand on its own as being exclusive but now its only ever going to struggle to be different and sprint races are not going to make it different from BSB, WSB. Don't get me wrong i hope it works but for me its the final nail and i will now watch WSB ( cant afford both )
9 different nationalities on 25 different bikes in moto gp, you could say there’s too many brits in wsb, or certainly one’s who should be? I don’t think anyone gives a shit about nationalities at the end of the day, I just think we want close racing , which is why wsb is currently very enjoyable to watch. Still nowhere near the pinnacle of dev obviously and wsb is realistically only a two or three horse race for the championship but it’s a close one to call now and if you only get to pick one, choose wisely!
25 different bikes ?? Yamaha, Ducati, KTM , Honda and Aprilia next year and only one person can ride the Honda and only one the Yamaha. Moto GP pulls bigger crowds than F1 at the circuits, but they put it behind a paywall for TV and like the Golf, Cricket, F1 int rugby' the TV viewers are dropping. i cant see a half race changing that
I think it's a good thing and a bad thing personally. Good points As a punter I get to see another race FP4 is dropped, never very interesting to watch IMO. Bad points Points for only the top 9 places Increased costs - engines, tyres etc A sprint race will probably be more exciting than the main race, this will detract from the overall spectacle Increased risk of injury, riders missing races.
Its another round of the Ducati cup where ducati with its enormous budget decides to buy the championship by filling the grid with ducati's. It is Ducati ruining the show imho.
More a case of Ducati seeing a way of pushing their image above the other manufacturers before petrol engines are no more I reckon.
I think the Sprint races could be good, but yesterday showed that it's not always about tyre conservation, or if it is Ducati are able to do it by going easy on tyres off the corner and still having pace later in the straights. Interestingly they talked about how much quicker the Yamaha is off the corner, for the first half the straight, but I think that's because tht's how they have to set it up, because it doesn't have the top end, Fabio has to use all the tyre and engine power off the corner to minimise loss. I can't see the difference being neutralized in the sprint races, I think Ducati will be EVEN stronger. I think for sprint races to work they need to also simplify the bikes, to regain parity. Others have mentioned how similar it is to WSBK, and I'd agree it has the potential to go that way, but they are running down the clock on it anyway. WSBK is another thread, it's totally broken, the bikes need to be much closer to stock, as proven in BSB where they are riding around on £30k swingarms and 1million pound team budget at the front yet the superstock bike over a lap is 1second slower.
A second in a race is a lifetime though, 20 seconds over a race is exactly why they spend millions to be competitive. Pretty sure the lap record for Silverstone is the same for WSB and BSB
Lol, take a look at Ducati's GP budget compared to the other teams. 8 bikes on grid. Yamaha technically have 1 atm. Suzuki on wind down, only prilly and ktm left. How long until all the bikes are ducati's?
Id be interested to know the extra wear (if any) on engines having a 14 lap(?) sprint race on the saturday, compared to say a rider doing a race run over a longer distance in FP4.
Even if all bikes are ducks, theyd still lose the championship. Ducati cant even win WSB with effectively a prototype v4r. If they dont win gp this yr with MM on sidelines, once he returns they never will. Probably. No, I dont support Ducati in GP or WSBK. I tend to support riders. So its Fabio for me in GP as he is, imo, a class above the others. In SBK, I quite like Toppy and Johnny and Scott. I dislike Bautista coz of his ratty pikey hair.
It's simple really, just start the pole sitters at the rear of the grid and then halfway through the race they've to pit....don't get your knickers in a twist it's just an idea Motogp fans.!
