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MotoGP is set to add the ‘long lap penalty’ to the list of punishments available to stewards for the start of the 2019 season.
The new initiative requires penalised riders to ride through a specially-marked area off-track, and was trialled for the first time in Qatar pre-season testing on Saturday at the Losail circuit’s Turn 6 hairpin.
Valentino Rossi estimated the time loss was upwards of three seconds.
Following positive initial feedback from riders, what is now being dubbed as the ‘Long Lap Penalty’ is set to be officially written into MotoGP regulations ahead of the season opener in Qatar.
The system was initially devised as a replacement for the current practice of forcing riders to drop one position, but is now likely to be added to the list of possible sanctions stewards can deploy in-race.
Race direction members Loris Capirossi, Franco Uncini and Carlos Ezpeleta will collectively decide where the ‘long lap penalty’ will be served at each particular track during the year.
The rule is expected to be used at the majority of MotoGP rounds, although there may be some circuits where there is nowhere practical to place the longer route.
Ezpeleta told Autosport: “We want it to be applicable to all the circuits on the calendar, but if there is one where the limitations of the track make it impossible, that wouldn’t invalidate the rule for the rest.”