Top names of motorcycle GP considering sitting out due to ‘reduced track time’

Several top names of the road racing scene and of the local Grand Prix (GP) are considering turning down the invitations extended to them by the Macau Grand Prix Organizing Committee (MGPOC) to take part in this year’s edition.

According to sources close to the matter who spoke to the Times on condition of anonymity, several well-known names and former winners of the local GP are unhappy with this year’s tentative schedule, which allegedly allots less track time for the motorcycles.

The same sources noted that such news was not well received among the usual competitors, who saw it as a significant downgrade of the race’s importance in the GP program.

“There are a lot of riders unhappy with the proposal for this year, particularly among the top names,” a source close to the matter told the Times.

“The main disagreement is the program. The [M]GP[OC] is proposing to do just one free practice on Thursday, [November 13], in the early morning, something like from 7 a.m. to 7:45 a.m., followed by a solo Qualifying session on Friday morning [November 14] of just 30 minutes (7 a.m. to 7:30 a.m.), a Warm-up on Saturday [November 15] of just 10 minutes at 7:15 a.m., followed immediately by the Race at 8 a.m,” the same source said.

“This kind of program is seen as a noticeable downgrade of the event and also as potentially dangerous because it does not give the riders enough time to familiarize themselves with the track and conditions,” the source added.

The motorcycle GP, one of the main events of the Macau GP program, has undergone several changes since its interruption during the Covid-19 pandemic. Every year, a new format with reduced track time is introduced.

In the past, there were two free practice sessions on Thursday, one in the morning and another in the afternoon, and two sessions on Friday, including a free practice in the morning and a Qualifying session in the afternoon. Saturday (Race day) also included two sessions, starting with a Warm-up in the morning and the Grand Prix race in the afternoon.

According to the riders and teams, the MGPOC has justified the changes in the program by allocating more time for the several FIA events now taking place, including the new FIA F4 World Cup, as well as the need to keep the motorcycle race separate from the car racing program to avoid situations occurring in the past where the track conditions deteriorated due to several car crashes.

The riders claim to prefer the format used in previous editions, where the motorcycles had the less critical sessions in the early morning but shared the highlights of the afternoon sessions with the cars, allowing a larger audience to watch their sessions.

Although the Times couldn’t confirm at this point who the names are that are potentially rejecting the invitations and not taking part in this year’s race, the same source hinted that it would include most of the frontrunners from the latest editions.

When the Times asked the source if he believed the race could be at risk of not taking place, the source said, “I would say that it is unlikely to happen, but we are potentially looking at an edition that could follow a line-up closer to the ones we saw during the pandemic and not a top-tier race as we are all aiming and wishing for.”

He was referring to the motorcycle GP’s 54th edition, held in 2022, when pandemic-related restrictions were still in force. The line-up included only 15 riders, missing names like Davey Todd, Peter Hickman, and Michael Rutter, to mention a few.

The Times contacted both the MGPOC and the Automobile General Association Macao-China to obtain their comments on the matter, but they did not respond by the closing of this edition.