MotoGP to introduce ‘Long Lap Penalty’
Losail, Qatar: MotoGP will introduce the 'Long Lap Penalty' to the list of punishments available to the stewards for the start of the 2019 season.
The new initiative requires penalised riders to ride through a specially-marked area off-track, with the proposal being tried out for the first time in Losail pre-season testing.
Valentino Rossi estimated the time loss was upwards of three seconds.
Following positive initial feedback from riders, 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.
Meanwhile, Alex Rins of Suzuki clocked a 1:54.593 lap to emerge as the fastest rider on the second day of the Qatar testing of MotoGP while Maverick Vinales, the fastest on the first day, continued to impress.
Yamaha rider Vinales was just 0.057 behind Rins, while rookie Fabio Quartararo of Petronas Yamaha SRT stormed to third, ahead of Ducati’s Danilo Petrucci and Marc Marquez of Honda.
Rins, who improved lap by lap, look like a serious 2019 contender. His teammate, rookie Joan Mir, also impressed and put in a 1:55.280 to end the day in 11th and less than seven tenths off his teammate – as well as the second quickest rookie.
Meanwhile, Vinales’ team-mate Valentino Rossi had a disappointing outing. The ‘Doctor’ ended the day down in 19th and over a second off Vinales after 51 laps, but the number 46 has never been one to blast out the blocks in testing.
