New rules for Trial World Championship
By Team TMX on 28th Feb 25
While everyone seems outraged by tighter section time limits, the inclusion of Super Test timed qualifying and a day-ending Power Section, not many people are talking about a couple of FIM Trial World Championship rulebook updates that potentially put the safety of the riders and minders at risk.
On February 26, the FIM published the 2025 FIM Trial Regulations for its various world championships and it makes for some interesting reading. As always, amendments are bold to help lazy-ass journalists get to the juicy bits quickly. So what do we have?
Let’s skip past Support Races because, well, there’s nothing too interesting there – the GP organiser can now include a non-championship class to boost the entry list. That might come in useful for some rounds so fair play…
The ruling that has most people’s backs up is 4.12.9 – The “Super Test”.
For ease of understanding, this is basically timed qualification using one section and time penalties in lieu of marks – 10 seconds for each dab and 60 for a total failure. The result will determine the starting order for the ‘competition’ – but is that both days or one? And if it’s only one, what determines the starting order for day two? What’s most interesting is that the rulebook states ‘a Super Test Section may be organised before a Competition’ so does that mean it may not also? We reckon it does…
Following directly afterwards are the official ins and outs of the Power Section – a single section that follows Super Test rules to reward riders with additional championship points. The Power Section will not count towards the result of the trial and stands alone. It’s not mandatory for event organisers to run one but if they do it becomes mandatory for whoever they decide is doing it to do it.
So far we have Super Test timed qualifying and a Power Section – both of which may or not happen. But up next we see a change in wording from lap to race – each lap of a world trial is now called a race. Riders have two hours to complete race one and 90 minutes to complete race two – both races being two laps of 12 sections. There will be a 30-minute break between races – unless the rider runs late in race one at which point there’ll be penalty points and less time to tuck into their sarnies.
Each race will carry championship points – on the usual scale of 20 for a win, 17 for second, 15 for third and so on – and the GP result will be determined by adding the points from races one and two together. Any ties for the overall result will be determined by the better second race rule – even if neither rider finishes race two in a point-scoring position.
Going back to the Rider Behaviour and Assistance section, point 14 states – ‘During the Race, the Rider will not be allowed to enter the sections on foot to observe it, before riding it with his motorcycle, unless otherwise specified’.
On top of that ‘Assistants are not permitted to enter the enclosure. They will be able to access inside the section at the same time as their rider when the latter passes the section entrance with their motorcycle’.
So not only are the riders banned from looking at the section they’re about to ride (checking for changes that have happened due to the passage of bikes between Friday and their turn to ride the section) but minders aren’t allowed in the sections either – well, not until the rider has ridden into it.
This means they’re gonna have to leg it to the spot where they may need to catch a falling rider or motorcycle and with the time limit for each section reduced to 60 seconds from 90, this is gonna make them rush into position which puts their own – and their riders – safety at risk. How is that acceptable?
It's entirely possible that the FIM may rethink these ideas but until the championship fires into life in Benahavís, Spain on April 4-6 then we’ll really not know.
To check out the rulebook for yourself click here
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Motorcycle Trials March 2025
Our regional list of trials around the UK in March 2025 with links to find out more.