CRT Teams Approved

Henny Ray Abrams | December 16, 2011

Nine Claiming Rule Team (CRT) entries and a reserve entry were approved for the 2012 MotoGP World Championship in a meeting of the Grand Prix Commission on Wednesday, bringing the total number of entries in the class up to 21.NGM Forward (Colin Edwards), Aspar (Randy de Puniet/Aleix Espargaro), PBM (James Ellison), Speed Master (Anthony West) and Gresini (Michele Pirro) have already been announced as CRT entries. The other three entries have yet to be announced.

In addition to the approval of the new teams, other regulations were also approved, including a revisal in the wording of testing regulations. Contracted riders in MotoGP may test with an allocation of 240 tires available to each manufacturer’s team. Previously, testing was restricted to test riders only. Now contracted riders can test with a limit of 120 tires per rider.

While in the past riders had to be within 107 percent of the fastest rider in qualifying in order to make the grid, they now get one last chance to do so during Sunday morning’s warm-up session.Other changes include: Starter motors may now be used on the grid in all classes (a must now that there are no more two-strokes); tire warmers can be used on the grid until the one-minute board, though generators must still be removed at the three-minute board; a red taillight must be used in all classes in rain races; the minimum weight limits for 1000cc bikes in MotoGP have been increased from 157 kilos (345.4 pounds) to 160 kilos (352 pounds).In addition, Race Direction can now impose penalties to “cover failure by any party to ensure the efficient running of events or for serious breaches of the regulations.” In other words, Race Direction can now come down hard on officials who make blunders at events – i.e. the failure of corner workers at Sepang failing to wave yellow flags in time to prevent a number of riders (including Marc Marquez) from crashing during Moto2 practice.