Official: MotoGP collects concession to help Honda and Yamaha

MotoGP announced this Monday, on the eve of the start of 2024 pre-season testing in Ceste, that it will introduce a new concession system for manufacturers with immediate effect, with test date allocation for 2024 pre-season starting this week. Tuesday .

Ahead of the Valencia Grand Prix, the Grand Prix Commission approved the concession in order to “encourage” Japanese manufacturers, who are lagging behind European manufacturers, to gain momentum to recover. The new system will cover test dates, drivers, wildcard appearances, number of engines, engine specs and freezes, aerodynamic updates, and number of tires provided for testing.

Factories are divided into four groups: A, B, C, or D based on the percentage of maximum possible points they accumulate in each window.

Manufacturers classified as rank A [Ducati]has to earn at least 85% of the maximum possible points from the manufacturer, after which they will have 170 test tires and private testing by test riders on only three Grand Prix circuits, giving them a ‘wild card’. Without this, up to eight engines will be used. In 2017 he will receive one aerodynamic update as well as a development freeze.

Manufacturers classified as rank B The percentage of points should be less than 85% and more than 60%, but if lto C (KTM and Aprilia) Must be less than 60% and more than 35%. Factories in these categories are subject to the same testing limits, number of engines, development freezes, and aerodynamic updates as Category A factories, but can have three and six wildcards, respectively. There will also be 190 to 220 test tires available.

For range D (Yamaha and Honda), Point percentage must be less than 35%. The Grand Prix circuit will feature 260 test tires, six “wild cards”, up to 10 engines that can be freely developed, and aerodynamic updates twice a year. Additionally, you can also test using official drivers.

They said: “Concessions will be calculated over two periods: the first from the first test to the end of the season, and the second from the first Grand Prix after the summer testing ban to the last Grand Prix before the start of the season. Until then,” he points out. Ban on summer testing for next season. ” If the manufacturer changes the category during the second period, the benefit will be adjusted accordingly.

Introduced in 2013

These benefits were introduced in 2013 with the aim of reaching out to the brands that have the most challenges in the evolution of motorcycles. The last brand to lose concession rights was Aprilia in 2022, with five manufacturers already competing on the same terms in 2023. Curiously, until now the only two manufacturers that have not benefited from these “advantages” are Yamaha and Honda.