Technical and Safety improvements on FIM Cross Country Rallies Championship & World Cups and Dakar for 2021

Technical and Safety improvements for 2021

Following the decisions taken during the last meeting held in Lisbon on 3 March, with the Cross-Country Rally teams, A.S.O. and the FIM and taking in consideration the difficult situation for the technical development and testing of the motorcycles in Cross-Country Rally, the FIM can announce the sporting rules and safety measures that will apply in the FIM Cross-Country Rally World Championship and Dakar in the RallyGP class for 2021.

The measures that will be applicable for the 2021 Dakar and the 2021 FIM Cross-Country World Championship are:

• Limitation of the number of rear tyres to 6 for the 12 stages (30 min penalties for non-compliance). For shorter rallies: 1 tyre for 2 Days of racing. For example, a rally consisting of 1 Prologue and 5 days, the limitation will be 3 tyres.
• Single brand and model of rear tyre for the entire rally (1 hour penalty for non-compliance)
• Possibility to change only one piston during the entire rally (10 min penalties for non-compliance)
• No intervention on the motorcycle allowed during refuelling (only the road book dispenser can be opened to change the road book if necessary).
• Sound alert on danger 2 and 3 (will be tested in Rally Morocco in 2020) using the sentinel.
• Wearing of an Air Bag Vest equipped with passive safety paddings is mandatory.
• Work on the itinerary: search for the slowest possible route, setting up slow zones if the ground is poor and fast especially in the HP zones, more WPs on the risk points.
• First aid training certificate compulsory for all motorcycle riders.

Moreover, the following safety measures will also apply in 2021 for Elite riders (RallyGP Riders):
• Navigation tower protected by foam for Elite riders (RallyGP Riders), especially the road book reader, best practice in order to reduce impact to the rider.
• Detachable front windscreen, in case of impact by the rider (mandatory for Elite riders (RallyGP Riders) in 2021 Dakar rules).

No engine power reduction with air-intake restrictors that require an ECU re-setting will be done for the 2021 season. Engine development will be done until the end of 2021 for the reduction of the power of the machines.

Electronic road book will be tested in 2021 and should be implemented in 2022.

All these measures taken alone may seem minimal, but when taken together they can significantly reduce the speed and increase the safety of the riders.

Source FIM Official press release