MotoGP plans engine points penalties

The series had already announced that each rider will be restricted to five engines from this year's Brno race to the end of the season - which is now seven races rather than eight due to the cancellation of the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Today at Jerez, FIM president Vito Ippolito said that this rule would be tightened for 2010, with each rider allowed only six engines for the whole championship, equivalent to one engine for every three races.

Any rider needing to use additional engines will receive a 10-point deduction, rather than a Formula 1-style grid penalty.

"For the rider concerned, they will have ten points less from their total season points. This is the penalty for the rider," said Ippolito.

"The classification for the manufacturers will also be deducted by ten points. This is an important issue."

Ippolito also confirmed that spare bikes will be banned from 2010.

"For the next season, 2010, we will have some important changes," he said. "The first of them is that we will have only one machine (per rider) during each MotoGP event, rather than the two machines we have usually allowed."