Starting this weekend, there are some big changes coming to MotoGP, but it took a serious racing incident to bring them about. Starting with the Dutch GP, holeshot devices will be banned. I wish someone had told the MotoGP Safety Commission that this would have been a good thing to do long before the accident. Oh, wait, someone did.
Jack Miller has spoken several times about the dangers of holeshot devices, even suggesting banning them. Holeshot devices were scheduled to become illegal in 2027, but Miller suggested several times that they should be banned before then or, at least, restricted only to tracks where riders need to apply abnormal braking to disengage the devices for the first corner.
After Georg Martin’s first corner crash at the Balaton Park circuit, which involved five riders, Miller said, “At the end of the day, we are doing an unnatural maneuver, especially here at Balaton where the turn was slippery enough with a new asphalt, that you weren’t even able to get enough shifting to unlock the instruments, without actually locking the front.”
After a serious Turn 1 crash at the 2026 Catalan GP, Miller said, “I’ve been saying this continuously since Barcelona, ever since we saw two crashes at the first corner, same kind of thing: remove them (start devices), everyone is on the same level.” But Miller is one of several high-profile riders speaking out against these devices and highlighting the dangers they present.
Now, the Grand Prix Commission has decided to ban holeshot devices for the rest of the year. According to a MotoGP release, “The devices will not be allowed next season under sweeping regulation changes, but the ban brings them forward until the 2026 Dutch GP, which is this weekend. This has been a hot topic during some Grands Prix this season and now it is official.”
So MotoGP has ranged from not banning holeshot devices at some tracks that pose an obvious danger, to a complete ban on all tracks – a total of 180. But the new rules don’t end there, as the distance between riders will also change.
The distance between rider and rider will change from three meters to four metres. This means that the distance between each row will also change, from nine meters (3 x 3) to 12 meters, which is 3 x 4 meters. The Commission hopes that the new spacing will also play a role in reducing the risk of an incident involving multiple riders in Turn 1. The new grid spacing will come into effect by next month’s GP in Germany.
