MXGP’S NEW POINTS SYSTEM – A GOOD THING, OR NOT?

What the hell’s going on with the FIM Motocross World Championship’s points system this year? How is that, after the 2023 series’ opening round last weekend in Argentina, Honda’s Ruben Fernandez took the Overall round-win in the MXGP class, but GASGAS’s Jorge Prado came away from the round with the championship leader’s red plate?

To make sense of this seeming anomaly, you need to understand the changes that have been made to the MXGP’s points system for 2023 – changes that, interestingly, are similar to those recently introduced to MotoGP, Formula 1 and WSBK at all or selected rounds of their respective championships.

Here, in a nutshell, is what’s changed for the 2023 MXGP World Championship:

The top ten riders in both MXGP and MX2 classes will now score points from Saturday’s Qualifying Race. The winner will receive 10 points, 2^nd place will receive 9 points, and so on down to 1 point for 10^th position. It was back in 2010 when the Qualifying Races were introduced as part of the FIM Motocross World Championship’s weekend format, but making them a points-paying race is an all-new development.
Points gained during the Qualifying Race will count for the MXGP and MX2 Championships standings (as well as the Manufacturers’ standings), but they’ll not be considered for the GP’s Overall results. In other words, a Grand Prix’s Overall results will still only count the points coming from the combination of the two main races on Sunday.
After Saturday’s Qualifying Race, the Championship points leader will display the front red numberplate on the bike (with white numbers) during both races on Sunday.

This explains why Fernandez’s 5-1 moto scorecard (41 points) on Sunday beat Prado’s 1-6 (40 points) for the Overall win in Argentina. But because Prado won Saturday’s Qualifying Race (10 points) while Fernandez ran 4^th(7 points), Prado leads to the Championship’s standings (50 points versus Fernandez’s 48 points). In other words, it’s already become clear that Saturday’s Qualifying Races will play a much more significant role in determining the outcome of this year’s MXGP and MX2 World Championships.

Meanwhile, in the MX2 class, Yamaha’s Jago Geerts had the perfect weekend in Argentina, with 1-1 moto finishes on Sunday (50 points) giving him the GP’s Overall win, and Saturday’s Qualifying Race win adding another 10 valuable points to his Championship tally (60 points).