In a move that screams ‘we’re trying to look fair but didn’t think this through’, MotoGP has announced a new rule for 2025: riders who miss three or more Grand Prix races due to injury can now have a single day of testing to ‘get back up to speed.’ And nothing says ‘rehabilitation’ like a day’s testing at Mugello.
The new ruling is in response to the brittle champion Jorge Martin’s brief return to action that saw him re-hospitalised in Qatar after just 96 hours of medical freedom. Before the Qatar race weekend Aprilia had asked for some extra testing time for their star rider given his lack of track time on the bike. This idea was refused. Then after Martin’s crash all parties who refused the delicate Spaniard’s request were forced to hide around the back of a camel in Qatar until everyone had gone home.
With this in mind Dorna, showing great reactive skills, have hastily added the new ruling hoping the flack aimed at them will be reduced slightly.
So all good then?
Maybe not. This new rule could basically be a love letter to Ducati, the team that treats rulebooks like IKEA instructions—vaguely helpful, but they’ll build whatever they want anyway.
It’s rumoured that the Italian pipe-benders are already finalising a cunning three step strategy to ensure MotoGP remains just as dull as ever:
- Reclassify every minor bruise as a ‘season-threatening injury’. Then get Ducati’s engineers to design a medical scanner that diagnoses “strategic contusions” to maximize test days.
- Use that ‘rehab’ test day to claim the injured rider is ‘recovering’ at Misano with a prototype engine, new aero wings, and a suspension setup that hasn’t even been invented yet.
- Point smugly at the rulebook if any team claims they’re cheating.
Meanwhile the timing of the new rule has also frustrated Honda. The evil lawnmower manufacturer has calculated that if this ruling had been introduced last season Joan Mir would have had at least 37 extra days of testing.
