On the weekend of 18th ‑ 20th August, the Red Bull Ring will be hosting a blockbuster racing programme featuring the world’s top motorcycle riders. The new MotoGP sprint format will be in use for the first time this year at Spielberg. You can’t get more MotoGP than this!
During the first half of the season, the ten fastest riders from Friday’s combined classification – across both practice sessions – would progress through to the grid-deciding Q2 session. That’s all set to change with the Silverstone GP – therefore the modified format will be also used at the CryptoDATA Grand Prix von Österreich 2023.
The opening MotoGP session of the weekend, Free Practice 1 (45 minutes) on Friday, will no longer influence qualifying in any way. For the second half of the season, the Practice (60 minutes) on Friday afternoon will be the only session to affect qualifying. As was the case during the first eight rounds of the year, the ten fastest times will book riders a place in Q2.
On Saturday, Free Practice 2 is scheduled for 10:10, with the serious business of qualifying getting underway at 10:50. In Q1 and Q2, the battle will be on for grid positions in the sprint and the main race on Sunday. At 15:00 will see the first major contest of the MotoGP weekend in the form of the sprint race. It lasts half of the normal race distance (i.e. 14 laps). The top nine finishers will score world championship points.
The sprint points system
Winner: 12 points
P2: 9 points
P3: 7 points
P4: 6 points
P5: 5 points
P6: 4 points
P7: 3 points
P8: 2 points
P9: 1 point
Sunday’s warm-up session will commence at 09:45. The CryptoDATA Motorrad Grand Prix von Österreich 2023 itself will start at 14:00. The main race is comprised of 28 laps. If you haven’t bought a ticket for the MotoGP weekend yet, it’s time to do so.
