MotoGP, Poncharal: “Every GP is on the same level, so there will be a Sprint Race at every round”

We will have to wait another 12 days for MotoGP to turn its engines back on for the Mugello weekend. In fact, more than three weeks separate the appointment of 9-11 June from the French GP on 14 May. A small break, to then dispute the last three rounds before the summer holidays, which will run from 26 June to 3 August, due to the cancellation of the Kazakhstan GP.

It’s a much less intense first part of the championship compared to the one awaiting the riders upon their return, when they will find the last 12 race weekends of the twenty that make up the 2023 season waiting for them. Five rounds between August and September, with two weeks of stop before the final tour de force, which will take them to the last round in Valencia with two hat-tricks of races, scheduled between Japan and Qatar.

“For sure this year’s calendar is not ideal, especially the end of the championship is going to be crazy! Everybody will be very tired. But I believe it will be better and less intense in 2024”, said IRTA President and owner of the Tech3 team Hervé Poncharal, in an interview with Crash.net. “Qatar asked not to be the opening round this year because of all the upgrades they wanted to make and also India came in late” continued the Frenchman, explaining the reasons for the imbalance of a calendar made even more demanding by the introduction of the Sprint Race on Saturday.

A format that will be evaluated at the end of the season, but which will continue the line of a double race in all the rounds of the calendar.

“We will listen to the riders, who are our heroes, and at the end of the year, we will talk about the race weekend format. Is it good? Is it bad? Can we do it better? What is everybody’s opinion: Promoters, riders, factories, teams… Carmelo is always open to talk – explained Poncharal – Some people say we should have been like Formula One, a Sprint race not at every round. Carmelo's position and I share that position is that if you gave the Sprint race to Portugal and don't give it to Silverstone, for example, the British Grand Prix will say, 'why don’t we have it?' And the fans will ask, 'why does your MotoGP ticket include a Sprint race but mine doesn’t?' So the principle, and I agree, is that each grand prix is as important as all the others. You have the same format and the same amount of points. Every grand prix is on the same level.”