THE GRAND Prix Commission have approved a number of updates to existing regulations for the 2016 season.
The Grand Prix Commission, composed of Messrs. Carmelo Ezpeleta, Ignacio Verneda (FIM CEO), Herve Poncharal (IRTA) and Takanao Tsubouchi (MSMA), with the participation of Javier Alonso (Dorna) and Mike Trimby (IRTA, Secretary), in various electronic meetings held in February 2016 have made the follow decisions:
Disciplinary Regulations
Following recent decisions, notably Valentino Rossi and Marc Marquez's 'Sepang Clash', Race Direction have been scrutinised regarding penalties given to riders and therefore more distinct regulations have been introduced.
- The Panel of Stewards will be known as the FIM MotoGP Stewards Panel and they will be responsible for deciding on penalties that are not considered to be matters of fact.
- Anyone receiving a penalty from the FIM MotoGP Stewards Panel may appeal to the FIM MotoGP Court of Appeal which is required to hear and rule on any appeals within four days.
- The system of Penalty Points will now only count towards the penalty of disqualification from an event which will happen when a rider accumulates 10 Penalty Points. The interim penalties previously triggered after accumulating four or seven points, no longer apply.
- Penalty Points will continue to be recorded against the record of the rider for 365 days. However, when a rider has accumulated 10 or more points and suffered a disqualification 10 points are removed from his record.
Sporting Regulations have also been altered with marked positions on the starting grid being more precise and when overtaking under a yellow flag different penalties will now be imposed including the possibility of a rider have to go back a number of places.
The last and new condition agreed is that Team's and Riders' must not make statements or issue press released that are considered to be irresponsible and hence damaging to the Championship. The new Regulation does not seek to prohibit responsible expressions of legitimate disagreement with the MotoGP Management, Organisers and/or MotoGP policies.
It appears that Rossi and Marquez's 'Sepang Clash' has been the forefront of these updated regulations and the implementation of the new regulation in regards to press releases all of which are to take effect immediately.
