MotoGP reinstates Friday practice
Added on Friday, December 10th, 2010 by Carole Nash Editor
MotoGP reinstates Friday practice
Restrictions on practice at MotoGP events will be lifted in 2011, with the MotoGP class returning to four hours of practice on race weekend Fridays and Saturdays.
Restrictions on pre-race practices were put in place at the start of the 2010 season as part of a raft of cost cutting measures but both riders and teams have been left frustrated by the reduced track time over the past two years.
Under the change, Friday practice was scrapped altogether whilst Saturday practice was reduced to just two 45 minute sessions.
In a meeting of the Grand Prix Commission meeting in Madrid yesterday, Friday practices will be reinstated with two 60 minute sessions whilst the Saturday practice sessions will return to 60 minutes.
Moto2 will have four 45-minute sessions, while the 125cc class will have 45-minute practice sessions on Friday and Saturday mornings, but only half an hour of running in the afternoons.
In another rule change, Moto2 and 125cc Grand Prix’s will adopt a three-bike grid system as opposed to the current four bikes per row. The move brings the two support classes in line with MotoGP.
