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Those responsible for the MotoGP are making a real effort to make GP racing greener and are focusing on sustainable fuel. The timetable set by the Grand Prix Commission is the following: starting from 2024, at least 40% of the fuel used in all three GP classes of the “FIM Grand Prix World Championship” must be of non-fossil origin; from 2027, the fuel in GP racing will then consist of 100% non-fossil raw materials.
This is because the current five-year MotoGP contracts between Dorna and the factories cover up to and including 2026, during which time the technical regulations can't significantly be changed. But if the factories in the MSMA are in agreement, they'll be able to, for example, voluntarily race on 100% non-fossil fuel one year earlier. KTM Motorsport Director Pit Beirer and Aprilia Racing CEO Massimo Rivola already stated in 2022 that they could imagine using 100% biofuel as early as 2026.
Gigi Dall'Igna, General Manager for Ducati Corse, is also no longer ruling out such an approach. “If we achieve the goal of racing 100% on synthetic fuel in the GP as early as 2026, Ducati will certainly be happy,” Dall'Igna assured GPone.com. And, after the Misano GP, the most successful strategist and most innovative constructor of the current MotoGP era added: “We're working on it.”
Castrol is the mineral oil supplier for Aprilia Racing. In June 2024, the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team announced its multi-year collaboration with French mineral oil multinational TotalEnergies as official fuel supplier. Fabio Quartararo's and Alex Rins' Yamaha YZR-M1 factory bikes are now using 40% non-fossil fuel from Total, as stipulated in the MotoGP Technical Regulations (2.4.5.1 Fuel and Oil).
No one at Yamaha wants to confirm that Total will possibly provide 100% biofuel for the MotoGP World Championship for the 2026 season. “As you can imagine, we have other priorities at the moment,” a Yamaha spokesperson explained. This is understandable. Yamaha hasn't won a race since the 2022 Sachsenring GP and has not achieved a second GP placing during the last two years. Honda does not oppose the 100% biofuel plan for 2026, although many technical wishes remain unfulfilled for the struggling RC213V.
In contrast to the two minor GP classes, Moto3 and Moto2 (where Petronas is sole supplier for standard fuel), each motorcycle manufacturer in the MotoGP can continue to work with its fuel supplier and develop its own biofuel. KTM is doing this with ExxonMobil, Tech3 and GASGAS have so far done it with Elf, Honda is allied with Repsol. This should boost the development of sustainable fuels by various fuel manufacturers.
Incidentally, Repsol already equipped the French Formula 4 Championship with synthetic fuel in 2022. And Repsol already carried out a test at the Jarama circuit in November 2022 with a view towards 2024: Marc Márquez hopped on his road-going RC213V-S, which was fueled with biofuel developed in the Spanish oil company's technology lab. “I felt good and didn't notice any difference when using the biofuel, which is ultimately the goal. It's about maintaining a high level of performance,” was Marc Márquez's conclusion at the time.
Repsol Honda rider Joan Mir is excited about further developments. “When I hear the word 'biofuel', I think of the present and the future. In 2024, this fuel will be a reality in the World Championship. I'm glad that Repsol Honda worked early on to have the best biofuel and to make the bike more competitive.”
Incidentally, the sustainable fuel at Repsol is obtained either from biomass residues or synthetically, by combining CO2 and hydrogen produced from renewable energy. In the first half of 2023, the company commissioned the first advanced biofuel plant in Spain in Cartagena. A plant for the production of synthetic fuels is being built in Bilbao in 2024. Repsol's declared goal is to reach a production capacity of 1.3 million tons of renewable fuels by 2025. The target for 2030 is 2 million tons.
Repsol sponsored the “New Energies' Pau Grand Prix” on May 13th-14th, 2023. These historic car races have been held since 1933 and focus on “new energies for our mobility”. With this project, Repsol is pursuin decarbonization, which should be completed by 2050.
Of course, Stefan Pierer knows that his term “forever” is not to be taken quite literally. That's why, when asked, he clarified: “I don't see a replacement for combustion engines in GP racing until 2035. And what's going to happen to the millions of existing combustion engines then? Synthetic fuel is the solution. Not electric propulsion, because this fuel is CO2-free. You also have to look at how many precious raw materials are needed to produce an electric car compared to a conventional car.”
The question of whether e-fuels are a miracle solution or a waste of energy and money is the subject of a heated and passionate debate. The European Commission has announced that, starting from 2035, not only electric and hydrogen cars will be sold, but also cars that can only run on these synthetic fuels, suggested by German Transport Minister Volker Wissing.
But can combustion engines be saved and kept alive by e-fuels? KTM CEO Stefan Pierer says that huge solar plants are now being built in Saudi Arabia (by Aramco) and in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and this green electricity will be used to generate cheap and sustainable electricity in sufficient quantities with non-fossil biofuel in the foreseeable future.
But when will the required quantities be produced? In what period of time can e-fuel be produced in industrial quantities? And how “cheap” will a liter of e-fuel be? Or will green hydrogen be the solution, after all - once it has been produced by electrolyzing water with electricity from renewable sources - available at a sufficient number of filling stations worldwide, and with transport problems solved? For the time being, there are no plants that produce e-fuels on an industrial scale and in the desired quantity. Or has anyone ever seen a fuel pump for a 100% synthetic fuel?
The plan is to create a whole new industrial sector that makes it possible to power a combustion engine with a liquid or gas. This involves gasoline engines and diesel engines for cars, trucks, and ships as well as aircraft turbines. According to the De.moto1.com website, Zero Syn95 petrol costs an incredible 2,841 Euros per liter in a special collector's edition. From 2025, it will be available for purchase at a dumping price of 56.80 Euros per liter. A tank of fuel for a mid-range vehicle would therefore cost almost 4,000 Euros. Nice prospects.
It is, therefore, becoming clear that the factories will soon have their financially strong MotoGP mineral oil partners donate a few precious barrels of biofuel per year. But the average consumer will continue to fill up with fossil fuels for some time to come. Unless, of course, the energy giants - Aramco, Bosch, Enel, ExxonMobil, Gulf, Iveco, Repsol, TotalEnergies, Eni, Shell and Siemens Energy - achieve a major breakthrough in the production of the sought-after magic potion much sooner than expected.
