Just hours before the opening curtain of the first race of the year, MotoGP announces a major change to the hitherto controversial minimum tire pressure regulation.
Since last August, MotoGP, in collaboration with Michelin, have decided for the first time to install on all grid motorcycles the Tire Pressure Monitoring System and establish a new regulation.
According to him, when the tire pressure was exceeded once the minimum limit set by the manufacturerthe rider was receiving one warning. In the event of his “arrest” for second time, the rider accepted time penalty 3 seconds, which was added to his final time after Sunday's sprint and/or GP. In third offense, the penalty was doubled at 6 seconds and to Wednesday in 12 seconds.
As it was announced last year, for 2024, from the very first violation, the penalty that would be imposed would be disqualification of the rider.
According to the regulation, the tire pressure should be above a certain value during a minimum percentage of laps in a sprint or GP. Specifically, the minimum pressure for the front tire was defined as 1,88 bar and for the back 1,68 bar, values with which every rider must “comply”. at least for 50% of the distance of a GP and at least for 30% of the equivalent of a sprint.
What is Tire Pressure Monitoring System in MotoGP
The Tire Pressure Monitoring System is designed with safety in mind to ensure that all motorcycles in the major category comply with the pressures specified by Michelinthe official, in other words, MotoGP tire supplier.
If anything, the tire pressure is a lot “sensitive” parameter with relative values varying considerably during a race, even at different points on the track. In the first phase of the system implementation, the sensors were checked before and after the race so that they had the correct calibration. In the past, teams have used their own sensors from different suppliers to check tire pressure, unlike what started to happen from last year's race at Silverstone where all bikes started to carry a common type of tire pressure monitoring sensor.
What is changing in MotoGP for 2024
From… tomorrow itself, the penalty of disqualification in case of violation of the minimum pressure regulation is put on the shelf. Instead, any rider outside of the prescribed minimum limits will be accepted time penalty 16 min. in the GP and 8 min. in the sprint, from the very first offense – but also for every future one.
Additionally, in order for teams to have more room, the minimum pressure limit “drops” from 1.88 to 1.8 bar for the front tire (for the rear, which hardly bothers the riders, it remains at 1.68 bar). Only now, this minimum pressure should be captured through the relevant sensors not at 50% of the distance of one GP but also in the 60% – for sprint races, however, the minimum remains 30% of the total distance.