Marc Márquez, at the Misano circuit. /
Motorcycling
On a day marked by rain, the most relevant news of the first day of the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix did not come from the track, but from the offices
Fabio Quartararo could be proclaimed MotoGP world champion tomorrow at 22 years old. The Frenchman will finish his seventh season in a championship in which he made his debut due to an exception in the regulations when he had not yet reached the age of 16, the minimum age to debut. So far, it is already something that will change from next season after a decision made by Dorna and the International Motorcycle Federation announced yesterday.
It is the response to the three fatal accidents experienced in 2021 (those of Jason Dupasquier in the Moto3 World Championship, Hugo Millán in the European Talent Cup that takes place in the FIM CEV Repsol and Dean Berta Viñales in SSP300, a test of the SBK World Championship. ), and of the many dangerous actions that are being seen on the track in the minor categories, such as the one experienced in the previous Grand Prix in Austin in which Pedro Acosta, Andrea Migno and Jeremy Alcoba were involved, and that has cost him a two-race penalty to Deniz Öncü.
“Increasing the minimum age of each category of motorcycling is a decision taken to guarantee a safer path for all riders at the start and continuation of their careers,” said those responsible for these modifications, the most significant being the one that will result in 2023 whoever wants to compete in the World Championship must be 18 years old, two more than the current limit for Moto3 and Moto2. Although the exception that Quartararo used in 2015 will remain with this base, which would allow the winners of the Red Bull Rookies Cup and the Moto3 Junior World Championship to compete with 17. A measure that will have in 2022 a transition course once many of the contracts are already signed at this point in the season.
“Especially for Moto3, going from 16 years to 18 is a big change, because everyone wants to start as soon as possible,” reflected Valentino Rossi, the most experienced rider on the grid. «It is a big difference because two years is a long time and up to 18 many drivers will have to wait. This will definitely be better for safety, but I don’t know if it will fix all the problems. I think it is more important that the drivers have a good behavior when they are on the track, more than age. Raising the minimum age to 18 is a pretty big step. I started with 17 in the World Championship and 25 years ago. 18 is quite high, “he pointed out as a doubt.
As of that 2023, the minimum age for any of the competitions in grand prix circuits will rise to 14, in addition to that already from 2022 the number of participants in the different categories will be limited: in the series prior to Moto3 it will be left at 30 , and in the Junior World Cup in 32, the same as in the SSP300 and the European Talent Cup, where part of the cause of the serious incidents that occurred was attributed to that factor.
Favorable opinions
“It is controversial, it is difficult to know if it is the solution, only time will tell us if it is correct or not. But there are two things that are obvious, and it is that with 18 years you are more mature and your decisions are not made in the same way or approach them in the same way. And then the other question is, what do you do? You can’t just sit on the couch watching 16 or 17-year-olds die in Moto3 races or in the SSP300 races in the SBK World Championship, you have to do something ”, pointed out Pol Espargaró, who made his debut in 2006 in 125cc six days after turning 15 years old (he scored that Sunday which keeps him as the youngest in history to score points in the World Cup), the age limit at that time and that did not rise to the current 16 until 2010.
“I think it’s good, it was time to make a change, it was necessary to make a change due to the news and the events that have been happening this year,” agreed Marc Márquez, another of those examples of precocity. “It will be good for the safety of the pilots because I believe that the same mistakes are not made with 15 years as with 18 or 22, so I am happy with the change,” added the Spanish pilot after finishing the first day of practice in Misano, in a day marked by rain and that left the Australian Jack Miller as the overwhelming dominator of a little transcendent time classification.
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