New 850cc MotoGP Bikes Can Only be Tested After 2025 Season
The new 850cc MotoGP bikes can only be tested following the 2025 season, after an agreement was made between the current brands
Development of the new 850cc bikes will not start until after the 2025 season following an agreement between all manufacturers in MotoGP.
The new, smaller-displacement engines compared to the current 1000cc power units, will arrive in 2027 as one of several big regulation changes.
The agreement was confirmed by MotoGP and the FIM as part of the new ‘Decisions of the Grand Prix Commission’.
A statement from the FIM said: “An agreement has been made between the manufacturers that they will not test 2027 specification machines during the 2025 season. This means testing a motorcycle of the 2027 specification will only be allowed from the 17th of November 2025.”
Also in the release was news of an updated start procedure, meaning there will be no repeat of what happened at the Grand Prix of the Americas earlier this season.
On that occasion Marc Marquez made a decision to leave the grid and swap bikes in order to have dry tyres fitted to his bike, which led to others following suit. The race start was delayed due to safety concerns generated by the situation.
Had the race gone ahead without a delay Marquez would have been penalised and footage later revealed that the Ducati rider planned to make the switch minutes before the intended start, however, new penalty regulations have been added.
The new ruling has confirmed a double long lap penalty will be issued to a rider that either disrupts the start procedure or if the rider is not following the start procedure.
The press release said: “To simplify the procedure and previous protocols, there will now be a penalty for riders leaving or not joining the grid, removing the differentiation between a rider leaving the grid for a technical reason or leaving the grid to make a weather-related tyre change.
“Effective immediately, in all classes, if a rider leaves the grid for any reason, they must start the warm up lap from pit lane, take their original grid position, and serve a standard double long lap penalty. This also applies to riders who don’t go to the grid. As per current rules, if a rider misses the warm up lap, they must start the race from pit lane. In all these cases a change of bike is permitted in the MotoGP class, where riders have two machines.
“The existing time delay penalty for starting the race from pit lane remains unchanged. In addition, the current limit of a maximum of 10 riders to take the race start from pit lane also remains. For clarification, this does not apply to the warm up lap.
“It is not possible to determine if a rider leaves the grid for a genuine technical problem or for a bike/tyre setting change and therefore, the penalty must be the same in both cases. The new regulations simplify the rules for all parties including the fans and viewers whilst maintaining the advantage for riders who have made the correct tyre choice.”
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After graduating with a sports journalism degree, Robert joined Crash.net to lead the WorldSBK coverage in 2021, while also providing MotoGP coverage. Fulfilling that role for over three years, Robert was able to put his knowledge about all things racing to the test.
