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The Grand Prix Commision, consisting of Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpleta alongside Claude Denis (FIM), Sito Pons (IRTA) and Takanao Tsubouchi (MSMA), sat down with Paul Butler as Secretary at a meeting in which they agreed on a series of modifications to the MotoGP rulebook. One of the changes unanimously agreed on was the reform of the article pertaining to the interruption of a race due to a red flag.
The article was expanded to include the following considerations:
“In the moment in which the red flag is shown, those riders not competing actively in the race will not classify”
“Once five minutes have passed since the showing of the red flag, those riders who have not reached the pit lane on board their bikes will not classify”
This major delimitation of the rule intends to grant the classifications and the points more fairly in the cases in which a race is interrupted by a red flag.
One of the most controversial cases to influence this modification occurred in last year´s Japanese 125cc Grand Prix. The fall of Thomas Luthi a few laps from the finish, which affected another rider (Sergio Gadea), obliged the Race Director to show the red flag and end the race. According to the regulations in place in 2005, Luthi obtained second place, the position he was in on the final lap which was taken to determine where he would finish, despite the fact that it was his fall which halted the race and he couldn´t even make it up to the podium to celebrate.
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