London: MotoGP will become a 1,000cc category in 2012 from the current 800cc engine size, the International Motorcycling Federation (FIM) said after meeting rights holders Dorna in Switzerland on Friday.
"At the beginning of next year we will produce the new rules in a more complete format but that is the basis; 2012 will be the year of a new era of MotoGP," FIM president Vito Ippolito told a website.
The top category increased from 500cc to 990cc in 2002 but was reduced to 800cc in 2007 in a bid to reduce costs and cornering speeds.
"MotoGP manufacturers want 1000cc engines, so that's the way now," Ippolito told Italy's Motosprint magazine earlier this month.
"The 800cc formula hasn't worked because power is more or less the same (as with 990cc engines) but cornering speed has increased. And costs have increased too."
Bureau Report
First Published: Saturday, December 12, 2009, 09:18