MotoGP riders can now face sporting sanctions for missing PR activities during race weekends, according to new rules issued in secret to teams at this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix.
Riders will face time suspended from practice sessions and even grid penalties should they fail to turn up to mandated promotional events during race weekends.
The rules were issued to teams in a confidential email sent by the International Race Team Association on Friday and seen by The Race, and presumably comes as a reaction to reigning world champion Marc Marquez refusing to participate in a Sunday morning go-kart race at the Japanese Grand Prix earlier this month.
The new sanctions are to ensure that the championship’s "commitments made to fans, commercial partners and event organisers are respected", and come, according to the email, after "repeated instances of non-compliance have made it necessary to introduce a clear and transparent escalation process".
They will mean that on the first instance of missing the Thursday press conference, pre-race promotional activities, Sunday morning riders’ parade, or the mandatory 10-minute attendance at autograph sessions or the Hero Walk event, riders will be issued with an official warning.
On the second offence, they will be fined €5,000. That rises to €10,000 for a third offence and €15,000 for a fourth offence, as well as being escalated to the FIM MotoGP Stewards - a body whose previous role was only to issue sporting sanctions on track - for an official warning.
A fifth offence will then see riders docked time from a practice session - while a sixth offence will see Simon Crafar’s stewarding team hand out a grid penalty.
Exceptions will be made for riders with "injury or the requirement for medical attention", as well as those who have prior PR commitments with their teams - but the document seen by The Race stresses that late arrival and leaving early from events will be treated as a failure to attend.
The document also stresses that the new approach "is consistent with professional sport more broadly, where participation in official media, promotional and fan engagement activities form part of an athlete's responsibilities and clear processes exist to address repeated non-compliance".
Attendance at scheduled media appearances outside of Thursday’s press conference is not included in the list of events for which riders can be punished.
The introduction of sporting sanctions comes after Marquez refused to participate in the Sunday morning activity at Motegi, initially sending a stunt double before being found out and reprimanded by the series’ bosses.
Speaking afterwards, Marquez stressed that while he understands the importance of growing the sport, something that has come under increased focus thanks to new owners Liberty Media, he believes that racing motorcycles must remain his primary and overriding focus.
“There is a bit of a line,” he stressed. “Obviously I understand the show, but we are fighting for the championship, we’re not here to mess around or go around in kart races.
“After the warm-up I needed ice [on the injured right shoulder], and someone came out and said it would be cool to send a doppelganger, and we did it.
“They told me off, but at this moment you have to be selfish and perform at your maximum when it matters, which is in the races.”
Rule changes for 2027 announced earlier this month will see Sunday morning’s warm-up session scrapped to make more time for promotional activities like the Japanese go-kart race. At this weekend’s Phillip Island event, riders are set to head out on track in electric mini jeeps for the fan parade.