London – MotoGP has claimed a motorsport first by announcing a multi-year partnership with a company that monitors betting patterns for signs of fraud.
Series promoters Dorna said in on Wednesday Sportradar Integrity Services would apply its Fraud Detection System to all 54 races across MotoGP, Moto2 and Moto3 classes over the next three seasons.
Dorna chief executive Carmelo Ezpeleta said: "Prevention of any problem is always more prudent than cure and for sure betting-related sport fixing is a problem.
"It is a problem that thankfully has not hit our sport but it is one that is causing real concern across other sports worldwide.
"We do not want to get to the point where we are remedying a problem that has encroached onto motorcycle racing, if we can avoid it by being proactive and resolute. This is what this partnership is about."
MotoGP will have 18 races in 2017, with rounds in North and South America as well as Asia, the Middle East and Europe.
SPORTS SECURITY
Motorsport has not featured in any of the quarterly reports issued this year by the European Sports Security Association, which shares information with betting firms and sports governing bodies to detect possible corruption.
Of the 37 suspicious betting alerts during the third quarter of 2016, 31 were in tennis. The remainder were in soccer, beach volleyball, volleyball and table tennis. Sportradar and the association announced in June a partnership to tackle match-fixing in tennis by pooling resources and expertise.
Sportradar also works with a number of sports including European soccer's governing body UEFA, the Rugby Football Union and the International Cricket Council.