The new rules changes for MotoGP and World Superbike

All MotoGP classes get additional practice time, three riders per row, new Moto3 class to get spec ECUs, tires, fuel, oil; World Superbike changes Superpole format, weekend schedule

Both MotoGP and World Superbike have instituted some rules changes for 2011 (and MotoGP for 2012 as well, other than the move to 1000cc engine displacement limits and the controversial new "claiming rule" teams that are allowed to use engines with production parts). Some of these alterations are minor, but many of them will have a pronounced effect on how riders and teams will strategize their race weekend.
For all the current classes (MotoGP, Moto2, and 125 Grand Prix), the restoration of Friday morning practice means that teams will get additional time to get everything sorted for Sunday’s races. As part of an attempt to cut rising costs, the six engines per year restriction in MotoGP was also accompanied by the deletion of Friday morning practice for all classes, with the idea that one less practice session would mean less mileage on the engines and less maintenance money spent. It didn’t work out that way, with the majority of teams feeling that time was wasted hanging around in the pits for the first half of Friday (all the of teams usually arrive on Wednesday and set up their paddock/pit facilities on Thursday, so everything is set to go on Friday morning) waiting for the afternoon practice session. While many of the privateer teams—in all the classes—will probably welcome the additional practice, that won’t necessarily be the case for the factory MotoGP teams, who will surely be weighing any additional practice time against the mileage it will put on their allotment of six engines for the whole 17-race season.
This means that now there will be four hours of combined track time for the MotoGP class (two one-hour practice sessions on Friday, a one-hour practice session Saturday morning, and then the hour-long qualifying session Saturday afternoon), three hours for Moto2 (instead of an hour-long practice session on Friday afternoon and another on Saturday morning leading to the 45-minute qualifying session on Saturday afternoon, there will be two 45-minute practice sessions on Friday, and a 45-minute practice session Saturday morning segueing to the 45-minute afternoon qualifying session), and the 125cc GP class getting two and a half hours instead of two hours/20 minutes (although the qualifying session time on Saturday afternoon for the smallest class has apparently been halved, from 40 minutes to only 20 minutes—meaning there will be little time to fiddle around).
The grid rows for all classes have now been reduced to three riders per row (instead of four), as has been the case for the MotoGP class since 2004. The main reason for this change has been the ultra-competitive Moto2 category; more often than not, the first or second turn in every race has seen multiple crashes due to a large number of riders trying to occupy the same space. When you have the top 25-30 riders qualifying within the same second, the chances for contact between riders rises exponentially due to the tight competition. The premise that spreading the riders out at the start will lessen the chances for first-turn carnage sounds good on paper, but it’s definitely no guarantee, especially at circuits such as Catalunya, Qatar, or Assen where the first turn is very slow and allows the field to bunch up. The added space resulting from the change in row spacing has also provided the side effect of portable generators to power tire warmers now being permitted on the pregrid in all classes as well.
In what appears to be another effort to put a cap on costs, the usage of any GPS receiver other than the one provided by Dorna has been prohibited. It’s no secret that many of the factory teams have now developed traction control and engine management systems that adapt their parameters for each turn on every single circuit on the calendar to maximize both performance and fuel economy, and GPS is—or rather, was—the foundation of that system. Dorna uses its GPS for “real-time” data displays used in its live broadcast that shows a particular racer’s location on the track; as such, it’s a fairly basic receiver, with no more than adequate sampling frequency (how often the receiver checks its position). The conventional thinking is that by prohibiting the usage of more advanced receivers and antennas, teams would be forced to halt the complexity of their systems…and therefore put something of a lid on costs.
Attempting to out-fox the numerous brilliant engineers in each of the OEM race departments with basic restrictions, though, is like playing chess blindfolded. The complexity of the systems has progressed beyond depending on just GPS to determine location on the circuit. Satellite photography allows engineers to map out a circuit, and once a position has been set, accelerometers and gyro sensors can then be used to help correlate the bike’s position to the map. Or the teams can create their own triangulation system using transmitters and receivers trackside.
Regarding the new Moto3 class to debut in 2012, bidding proposals for the spec ECU are to be submitted to the FIM and Dorna by the end of February. Unlike the Moto2 class where a single manufacturer (Honda) spec engine is utilized, the Moto3 category will be open to any engine manufacturer as long as they follow specific regulations. These include a maximum bore of 81mm (no oval pistons, sorry Honda) and 14,000-rpm rev limit, no more than four valves, no pneumatic or hydraulic valve actuation, and no variable valve timing or opening systems. Engines can cost no more than €12,000 (nearly $16,000) per unit, and the manufacturer must be able to supply at least 15 riders, with each rider allowed eight engines per season. Any upgrades must also be available to all customers. In order to enforce the 14,000-rpm ceiling, a spec ECU is being mandated. Some of the requested spec ECU features include ignition/injection management, self-mapping with lambda closed-loop strategy, traction control, power shift, launch control, no less than three engine maps selectable by the rider, and an internal datalogger with no less than 8MB memory, at least 200Hz sample rate and minimum 64 channels. There will be a spec tire, and a spec fuel/oil as well.
The World Superbike Championship has also undergone a few changes for 2011, with the Friday schedule now featuring the first World Supersport practice beginning at 9:45 a.m. instead of 2:00 p.m., and the Superbike class’ first free practice session starting at 11:30 a.m. instead of its previous 12:45 p.m. slot. This is presumably to make room for the new European Junior Cup series, intended to be a young talent development class in the same vein as the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup. All riders in the European Junior Cup will be astride Kawasaki’s Ninja 250R.
Biggest move, however, is the change in the Superpole format. Instead of the previous setup where the top 20 qualifiers made it into Superpole, now only the top 16 riders will be invited. This simplifies the “knockout” qualifying format, with the Superpole 1 session remaining unchanged by losing the slowest four riders, but Superpole 2 only dropping another four (instead of eight riders as before), thereby leaving the same number of riders (eight) in the final Superpole 3 session to determine the first two rows of the starting grid.