Changes to the FIM Motocross World Championships Regulations
Sunday 25 November: On the 23rd at a meeting in Mies, Switzerland between Youthstream, FIM, manufacturers and teams, the Motocross and SuperMoto Grand Prix Commission unanimously decided to adopt the following changes to the 2013 Regulations.
Present were Youthstream’s President Mr
Giuseppe Luongo and CMS/FIM Director Dr Wolfgang Srb. Mr Ignacio Verneda, FIM Executive Director Sports,
also attended this meeting. Mr Takanao Tsubouchi, MSMA Secretary General, could
not attend the meeting, but the FIM received the MSMA position on the
topics discussed.
Application 01 January 2013
1. FIM MX1 & MX2 Motocross World Championships Regulations
For overseas FIM MX1 & MX2 World Championship events:
• MX1 & MX2 classes race together
• Maximum 40 riders: 15 MX1 riders + 15 MX2 riders + 10 additional riders regardless their class (MX1 or MX2)
• Classification per class
MX1 / MX2 Duration per session Maximum number of riders
|
2 x Free Practice
|
35 minutes
|
40 riders
|
1 x Pre-Qualifying Practice
|
30 minutes
|
40 riders
|
1 x Qualifying Race
|
20 minutes + 2 laps
|
40 riders
|
1 x Warm-Up
|
20 minutes
|
40 riders
|
2 x Races
|
35 minutes + 2 laps
|
40 riders
|
2. FIM MX1, MX2, MX3, Women’s Motocross World Championships, FIM
Motocross of Nations & FIM Veteran Motocross World Cup Regulations
• Art. 5.11 Qualifying
In order to qualify for the Qualifying Race, a rider must achieve a time
equal to at least 108% of the average time of the top 10 recorded
during the Pre-Qualifying Practice.
The above-mentioned modification has been unanimously agreed by all
manufacturers, factory teams, FIM and Youthstream. This new system will
create outstanding high-quality racing for the fans on site and it will
offer a more TV-friendly program. In addition, it will also help to
bring the level of competition and show very high, having top 30
International riders and the remaining 10 will be made up of other
European riders and local riders.
Besides, for the first two overseas events, Qatar and Thailand,
Youthstream will give the following freight support to the teams in
order to reduce their costs:
MX1
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing – 2 riders – total 600kg
Rockstar Energy Suzuki World MX1 – 2 riders – total 600kg
Monster Energy Yamaha – 2 riders – total 600 kg
Kawasaki Racing Team – riders – total 600kg
Honda World Motocross Team – 2 riders – total 600kg
LS Honda Racing – 2 riders – total 400 kg
Ricci TM Factory Team – 1 rider – total 200kg
CLS MX1 Monster Energy Pro-Circuit – 1 rider – total 200kg
Honda Gariboldi – 1 rider – total 200kg
MX2
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing – 2 riders – total 400kg
CLS MX1 Monster Energy Pro-Circuit – 2 riders – total 400kg
Monster Energy Yamaha Dixon – 2 riders – total 400 kg
Rockstar Energy Suzuki Europe – 2 riders – total 400kg
Nestan JM Racing KTM – 2 riders – total 400kg
Rockstar Bud Racing Kawasaki – 2 riders – total 200kg
Ricci TM Factory Team – 1 rider – total 100kg
Honda Gariboldi – 1 rider – total 100kg
HM Plant KTM UK – 1 rider – total 100kg
In addition:
The 2012 European 250 Champion will receive 200kg
2nd in the 2012 European 250 Championship will receive 100kg
3rd in the 2012 European 250 Championship will receive 100kg
The 2012 European 125 Champion will receive 100kg
For the other two overseas events, in Brazil and Mexico, the division of
the freight support will be based on the last Grand Prix event before
the concerned overseas events (the top 10 MX1 with 300kg of freight each
and from 11 to 15 MX1 with 200kg each; the top 10 MX2 with 200kg and
from 11 to 15 with 100kg).
These decisions are made due to the world's significant change over the
last few years, and there was a clear need for the FIM Motocross World
Championship to adopt some changes in order to cope with the worldwide
development.
Mr Giuseppe Luongo stated: "Some people might see this as a
‘revolution’, but in fact it is the right evolution to bring this FIM
Motocross World Championship to become a ‘true’ World Championship:
multi-cultural and multi-racial covering the entire world with it’s
events. Changes often bring other changes and we see this moment the
exact time to make other fundamental changes to adapt Motocross to this
new era and affront the new challenges. It is imperative that Motocross
becomes more attractive, with more emotions, and outstanding show for
our fans of the world. Our programme needs to be understandable for the
international viewers and easy to follow for the big TV networks. This
is why we would like to propose some necessary and radical changes to
the Motocross Grand Prix format.”
Youthstream strongly believes that this new system, which will be
adopted in the 2013 overseas events, will be very successful, and if it
reaches the established expectations in terms of show, costs, safety and
TV coverage, Youthstream is planning to implement a similar format for
the European Grand Prix events. However, due to the high number of
participants in the European Grand Prix events and to give the middle
and support teams the possibility to take part in the World Championship
and to show their riders and sponsors, the format should be slightly
modified:
Saturday
1. First free practice MX2
2. First free practice MX1
3. Second free practice MX2
4. Second free practice MX1
5. Qualifying race MX2
6. Qualifying race MX1
Sunday
1. Warm-up MX2
2. Warm-up MX1
3. Race 1 MX2 - 12h00
4. Race 1 MX1 - 13h00
5. Super-final MX1 / MX2 - 16h00
6. Podium - 16h50
Each class will have up to 40 riders and the points will be distributed
as usual. After the first races of the Grand Prix the top 10 riders per
class of the World Championship MX1 and MX2 classifications go directly
to the super-final, in addition to these riders, the 10 best results
from MX1 Race 1 and the 10 best results from MX2 Race 1 (after taking
away the top 10 in the World Championship classifications) will also
take part in the ‘super-final’ (making a total of 40 riders). In the
super-final riders will score points relative to their championship.
There will be a podium with the top 3 riders of the super-final. In
addition an MX2 podium will be held after the overall podium to promote
the young.
Thanks to this new format, a part from broadcasting LIVE all the racing
program on MX-LIFE.TV and on the strong Motocross orientated TV
broadcasters, there will be the possibility to create 1 hour program
full of racing at the highest level ever seen. The final product will be
easier to understand to everybody, especially the young and new fans,
and the big TV broadcasters, who are not particularly specialized in
Motocross. This new program offers more support and visibility for the
teams and riders who enter the entire FIM Motocross World Championship
and for teams with a reduced budget Youthstream help them by not having
the pressure to take part in the overseas Grand Prix events and they can
concentrate on the European Grand Prix events and European
Championship; meanwhile keeping open the possibility for every team with
the budget and rider quality to enter the whole Grand Prix series.
The overseas events with this new, more modern format and the HD TV
production will give a boost to our sport and it will permit the World
Championship to have a much wider TV coverage, it will increase the
interest from the fans and automatically the sponsors and it will help
the manufacturers promote their motorcycles in all the motorcycle
markets around the world.
A part from the changes to the 2013 Regulations, there will be the following
important improvements in the 2013 FIM Motocross World Championship:
• The TV production will be done in HD
• A covered waiting zone will be located behind the starting gate and on
top of the waiting zone there will be a VIP area and podium
incorporated, in this way all the first floor of the pit-lane will be in
teams' colors and full disposal for the teams’ guests.
• To give more value to the European Championship and to help the young,
YS will offer 200kg of freight for the 1st UEM 250, 100kg of freight to
the 2nd and 3rd UEM 250 and for the 1st UEM 125 for the overseas
events. In addition teams hosting these riders will not pay the
contribution fee.
• For the safety reasons and for a higher level of competition the
average times from the top 10 in the pre-qualifying practice will be
taken and calculated at 108%, and the riders who are over this time will
not be able to take part to the race. In extreme weather conditions
the Event Management may decide to not use this rule (this rule will be
enforced for all MX1 and MX2 Grand Prix events from 2013 – not for MXON,
MX3, Women, Veteran or the European Championship).
Youthstream’s main objective is to develop – together with
all the stakeholders – a new, modern and global Motocross, while the
spirit of our sport remains unchanged: the greatest and most exciting
off-road sport in the world!