The first round of the new season of the FIM X-Trial World Championship that will premiere in Madrid next Saturday, December 21 from 18:00 (local time) will premiere a new competition format designed to provide greater emotion, dynamism and spectacularity to each and every one of the races.
FOUR FINALISTS INSTEAD OF THREE
Instead of three, there will be four finalists fighting for the victory and the other two podium places in each of the rounds, but the way to reach the Grand Final changes in this new season.
FIRST PHASE: Q1
The first passage through the zones, which is now called Q1 , remains identical in terms of route and penalties. That is, the eight participants face the 5 or 6 zones consecutively with a defined time to do so and the same penalty system. However, the novelty lies in the fact that the first three classified go directly to the Final. On the other hand, the “Championship Point” for the Championship classification is abolished.
Q2 LAST CHANCE PHASE
The second course or Q2 “Last Chance” will be held over 2 or 3 zones in Sprint Round format in a Sprint format and will feature the 5 riders who have been provisionally left out of the Final after Q1. The best of them will be the fourth finalist and will be the one who accumulates the lowest total time adding the penalties and the travel time.
SUPERPOLE
With the four protagonists of the Final defined, the Superpole will decide the starting order of Zone 1 of the Final. The format of this new section will be like that of Q2 and the 2 or 3 zone route. The winner will be the last to start Zone 1 of the Final.
NEW FINAL
The Final, now with 4 protagonists, maintains the current format and way of scoring with 5 or 6 zones and one minute of time per rider and zone as it was done until now.
NEW TIME PENALTIES
The Sprint Round Format of Q2 and Superpole involves measuring penalties in time (the fastest is the winner). The total time to be taken into account will be the sum of the time of the course and the penalties. Each foot is counted as 10 seconds, the fiasco is penalized with one minute and these times are accumulated to the record set by the stopwatch when each rider finishes his journey through the 2 or 3 zones that he faces consecutively.
The objective of this new regulation that will be released on December 21 is to increase the pace of the competition and the show, give greater importance to each of its phases and allow the number of candidates for the Final and the places of honor of each test to be opened. The first round of the Championship in Madrid will allow you to discover the spectacularity of this new format.
