MotoGP will adopt two separate qualifying sessions in 2027, ending the system in which one Saturday session sets both the Sprint and Grand Prix grids. Sprint qualifying will take place on Friday afternoon, while Grand Prix qualifying will remain on Saturday morning. The change arrives alongside the championship’s move to 850cc motorcycles and a switch from Michelin to Pirelli tyres.

How Friday and Saturday change

Friday’s schedule will comprise a 45-minute FP1, a 30-minute FP2 and a new 15-minute Sprint qualifying session. FP2 is reduced from its current one-hour duration. The Sprint grid will be determined solely by that new session, rather than by the same qualifying result used for the main race.

Saturday will begin with a 20-minute FP3, shortened from 30 minutes, followed by separate 15-minute sessions for Grand Prix Q1 and Q2. Every rider will now enter Q1; the session will no longer be restricted to riders who finish outside Friday’s top ten. The 12 fastest riders in Q1 will advance to Q2 for the pole-position contest. The Grand Prix grid will then be set by this Saturday qualifying process.

Sunday loses the warm-up

The ten-minute MotoGP warm-up will be removed completely. Instead, riders will have a ten-minute window before the race in which they can complete multiple sighting laps. The 45-minute Grand Prix will be the only MotoGP-class action scheduled for Sunday, with its grid coming from Grand Prix qualifying. Sprint races were introduced on Saturdays in 2023, and until this revision a single Saturday-morning qualifying session had supplied both grids.