To continue with our goal of helping newer fans get involved and engaged with the sport, we here at Highside are starting a new, ongoing series explaining the rules of the race. We’ll start with the most fundamental rules and move into the more obscure as time progresses. To start, we’ll look at some fundamental rules on how the race is run.
Starting a race: MotoGP races are run from a standing start. What this means is that riders line up on the racetrack in a grid, in the order that they qualified. Riders will stand on their bikes and wait until a bright red light (or oftentimes, a series of lights) turns off. At this point, the race has begun and the riders take off as fast as they can. All of the riders are carefully monitored by MotoGP officials to ensure that none of them start moving before the light turns off. If a rider does so, they are called for a jumped start and must take a penalty. This kind of start is different from those used in Indy Car and NASCAR races, where they use what is called a ‘rolling’ start.
During the race: Riders jockey for position, taking turn after turn and trying to overtake the rider in front of them, all the while trying to keep their own position secure. There are a few maneuvers that are illegal: Riders cannot intentionally take shortcuts through other parts of the track, nor can they intentionally bump or hit another rider with their bikes or bodies. Riders who break these rules are either given time penalties, ride-through penalties, or are disqualified from the race altogether. Riders who accidentally crash are not penalized for coming into contact with another rider, though teams will often argue with each other and officials over whether or not a collision was intentional.
Finishing the race: Like in most races, the first rider to cross the line wins the race. Riders who are more than a lap behind the leader when the Chequered flag is waved finish in their current positions at the end of that lap, and do not race for an additional lap. An electronic timing system is used to determine which rider crosses the line first, with the option for review by the officials reserved for instances where riders finish so close to each other that there may be fault with the electronic timing.
Points: Riders accumulate points based off of their position at the end of a race. These points are tallied up at the end of the season to determine who is the World Champion. A rider must still be riding on the track at the end of the race to earn points. Points earned by position are as follows: 1st: 25 points 2nd: 20 points 3rd: 16 points 4th: 13 points 5th: 11 points. Riders finishing 6th through 15th earn one less point than the rider in front of them. Riders who finished 16th or lower do not earn points.
