Since 2023, a MotoGP weekend has awarded points twice. Sunday is still Grand Prix day; on Saturday afternoon riders contest the Sprint, a race of roughly half the length that pays points down to ninth place. Its official name is the Tissot Sprint, after the Swiss watchmaker that is its title sponsor and has been the championship’s official timekeeper since 2001.

Reduced to a definition, the MotoGP Sprint race is half a race. Seen through the results, it is more than that: in 2024 it decided who won the title. Before getting there, it is worth setting out the rules, because there are only a few of them and they change again in 2027.

• When: on Saturday afternoon, as a rule at every Grand Prix, since 2023, for the MotoGP class only.
• How long: about half the Grand Prix distance, usually around twenty minutes.
• How many points: 12, 9, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 for the top nine, against 25 for winning on Sunday.
• Which grid: until 2026, the same Saturday morning qualifying; from 2027, a dedicated qualifying session on Friday.

The rules of the Sprint, in four points

1. The distance

The Sprint runs over roughly half the laps of the Grand Prix. In the first one ever, at Portimão on 25 March 2023, it was 12 laps against 25 on Sunday. The result is a race of around twenty minutes with little time to fix mistakes: a rider who gets the start wrong has half the laps to recover.

2. The points

The Sprint pays points to the top nine: 12 for the winner, then 9, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1. Sunday’s Grand Prix pays points to the top fifteen, from 25 down to 1. Over a weekend a rider can therefore score a maximum of 37 points, and almost a third of them come on Saturday.

3. The grid

From 2023 to 2026 the Sprint has no qualifying session of its own: the two Saturday morning sessions, Q1 and Q2, set both the Sprint grid and the Grand Prix grid, and the Sprint result does not change Sunday’s grid. From 2027 this changes: the Grand Prix Commission has approved a 15-minute Sprint qualifying session on Friday, which sets the grid for Saturday’s race, while Q1 and Q2 set only the Grand Prix grid. The changes, session by session, are covered in our article on the new MotoGP format for 2027.

4. Who races it

The Sprint exists only in the MotoGP class: Moto2 and Moto3 run a single race, on Sunday. On the Sprint podium the top three each receive a medal: gold, silver and bronze.

Sprint and Grand Prix compared

The 2024 case: when Saturday decides the title

The 2024 championship is the clearest way to understand how much the Sprint weighs. Francesco Bagnaia won 11 Grands Prix, Jorge Martín 3. The title went to Martín, with 508 points to 498.

The gap was built on Saturdays. Going into the final round, in Barcelona, Martín had collected 164 points in the Sprints and Bagnaia 116; Bagnaia had retired from five Sprints, while Martín had failed to score in two. In Barcelona Bagnaia won the Sprint with Martín third, but it was not enough.

Counting Sundays only, the picture is reversed: take away the points from every Sprint and Bagnaia would have finished on 370 points, Martín on 337. The calculation should be treated with caution, because without Sprints the riders would have raced differently. It does, however, say one precise thing: since 2023 the title is no longer won on Sundays alone.

Why MotoGP introduced the Sprint

The Sprint was created to give Saturday a real race, with points at stake, and therefore one more reason to watch live and to go to the circuit. The early figures pointed that way: according to numbers released by Dorna, now MotoGP Sports Entertainment Group, Saturday TV audiences rose by an average of 51% over the first twelve Grands Prix of 2023. In 2025 the championship reported Sprint viewing figures up 26% on 2024. These are figures released by the championship promoter and should be read as such.

Formula 1 uses a similar format, with a difference of scale: in F1 the Sprint is held only on some weekends, six in 2026, while in MotoGP it is scheduled at every Grand Prix. We have looked at the differences in format in our article on the Sprint in Formula 1.

What changes for a brand, and for whom it matters less

For a company assessing MotoGP, the Sprint is not a regulatory detail. It changes the shape of the weekend, and therefore what is being bought.

For whom it matters. For brands on the bike, on the leathers or trackside, the Sprint adds a second live race in the same weekend: two starts and two podiums instead of one. For those using hospitality, Saturday is no longer a day of practice sessions only: guests invited on Saturday see a race with points at stake, and the invitation can be worth more even for those who do not stay until Sunday.

For whom it matters less. If the goal is to be associated with the main race of the weekend, the reference point remains Sunday’s Grand Prix, the one that pays the most points and closes the weekend. The Sprint increases the opportunities for exposure; it does not turn a deal designed around Sunday into a different deal.

One clarification applies in both cases. More live races mean more exposure, and therefore more media value: it is a useful benchmark for comparing packages, not a measure of commercial return. That is measured against the sponsor’s business objectives, from leads generated to sales.

Anyone who wants to understand how to enter the championship in practice can start from our guide to MotoGP sponsorship, from the 2027 MotoGP calendar to choose the weekends, or from our page dedicated to MotoGP sponsorships.