Both the Moto2 and Moto3 series have undergone a small tweak to their respective practice structures heading into the 2024 season, with the opening test of the weekend being renamed.
The Practice 1 session which gets the weekend underway will be named Free Practice 1 from the season-opening Qatar Grand Prix onwards. The change comes after series organizers Dorna made the same structure change to the MotoGP class in July last year, ahead of the British GP.
Calls came from the premier class riders to reduce the pressure of each weekend due to how intense each session had become. Prior to the change, both Friday practice tests counted towards the top ten riders that would be granted a slot in Saturday’s pole position shootout.
Keen to get their bearings without having to push to the limit from the get-go, Dorna changed the structure so that only the afternoon P2 outing would go towards settling who would progress into Q2 on Friday afternoon. With the change having been positively received by premier class riders and teams, the alteration has now been green-lit for the smaller classes from the start of this term.
The Moto3 session will last for 35 minutes ahead of Moto2’s 40-minute outing. The remaining sessions will continue as they did in 2023.
The change also means the teams can save some of the new tire supplier Pirelli’s soft tires for later sessions. They can then use the opening test to learn the track and make setup changes without having to worry about having to achieve a full-push time attack.
Conditions in the afternoon are generally faster in the afternoon than the morning anyway, due to the extra level of rubber having been laid on the racing surface through the day. However, if inclement weather conditions ended up reducing grip, under the old rules the time from the opening session would be faster and thus decide which pilots reach Q2.
