New track limit detection system introduced

Race Director Mike Webb explains changes to the detection system designed to increase the accuracy of track limit decisions

Qatar, 26 March 2021: Ahead of the 2021 FIM MotoGP World Championship getting underway on Friday in the Barwa Grand Prix of Qatar, Race Director Mike Webb explained a few changes to the way track limit infringements are judged.

A new system of sensors is now in place, increasing the accuracy of judgments and helping to create a level playing field for every infringement and/or decision.

Mike Webb: “Track limit regulations are staying the same but what we’ve been working on all last year is an updated system to detect track limits. Dorna and timekeeping have been working on this last year, we’ve got a new system that has pressure senses on the track outside the kerbs, so we can detect very accurately when a rider has gone out of track limits. It’s a much more accurate system.

“So the rule stays the same but because the system is actuated a little differently to the cameras we used before, it means for the riders that if they go out of track limits, there’s immediately a signal. In the past we had to look at a camera image and make a judgement. Now it’s just in or out; it’s very accurate. The difference for the riders or protocol is that now, one wheel out means out. In the past it was two wheels in the green, and is this two or one, how far out… no more of that judgment. Out is out and it doesn’t matter if it’s one wheel or two. It’s more accurate and it means it’s more fair for every rider, with a very clear view of who is in or who is out. The rule is the same, but the judgment is much more precise.”