News 20 Oct 2013

Australian MotoGP race further reduced to 19 laps at Phillip Island

Race direction has confirmed today's MotoGP race at the Tissot Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix will now be further reduced to 19 laps.

Marc Marquez practices bike swapping at Phillip Island. Image: MotoGP.com.

Marc Marquez practices bike swapping at Phillip Island. Image: MotoGP.com.

Race direction has confirmed today’s MotoGP race at the Tissot Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix will now be further reduced to 19 laps.

Yesterday it was announced that the race would be shortened to 26 laps from the originally scheduled 27, with flag-to-flag pit stops to be enforced (click here to view).

Now, riders will be required to enter the pits and switch to their spare bikes at the end of lap nine or 10, before going on to complete the race.

“Following further problems during the morning warm-up we have been notified by Bridgestone that they are unable to guarantee safety of their rear slick tyres beyond 10 laps,” the statement said.

No rider is permitted to make more than 10 laps on any one slick or wet rear tyre. This means that a bike/tyre change before lap nine will require a second bike/tyre change to finish the race.

Race direction further clarified the regulations in case of rain this afternoon at Phillip Island.

“The above procedure is valid for a dry race or a race that starts in wet conditions,” it continued. “Clearly in a wet race the rider will change to a bike with wet tyres.

“If the race is started in dry conditions and it then rains the race will be stopped with a red flag. The restarted race will be for the number of laps required to complete 19 laps but with a maximum of 10 laps and a minimum of five laps.

All riders are still required to use the hard option tyres available, as per yesterday’s announcement.

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