The 2013 Australian MotoGp has undergone some radical last minute changes with Race Direction deciding to make mid race bike stops mandatory for all riders and teams.
The change came courtesy of an announcement from Race Direction after qualifying on Saturday, with Bridgestone having announced that it is unable to guarantee the safety of its rear slick tyres beyond 14 laps.
"It has been decided to make the following changes to the MotoGP䋢 class race in the interests of safety." A statement read on the MotoGp.com website this morning.
A full list of the rules in place for today's event are listed below
1. The race distance will be 26 laps (previously scheduled to be 27)
2. Every rider will be required to enter the pits and change to their second machine with fresh tyres at least once during the race.
3. No rider is permitted to make more than 14 laps on any one slick rear tyre. This means that a bike/tyre change before lap 12 would require a second bike/tyre change to finish the race
4. Riders using ‰Û÷Factory‰Ûª and ‰Û÷Satellite‰Ûª machines will be required to use the ‰Û÷hard‰Ûª option tyre (B51DR). Extra quantity will be allocated by Bridgestone
5. Riders using CRT machines will be required to use the CRT ‰Û÷hard‰Ûª option tyre (B50DR). Extra quantity will be allocated by Bridgestone
6. The pit lane speed limit zone will be extended both on entry and exit and the exit route to rejoin the track will be marked by a white line in the runoff area; crossing this line whilst rejoining the track from pit lane will result in a penalty
The Moto2 class race has also been amended due to tyre concerns with the race being reduced to 13 laps.
Top Image: Jorge Lorenzo and the rest of the GP field will have to adapt to mandatory bike changes during today's race.
Credit: Aaryn Minerds
