Third place in the Women’s world championship, Larissa Papenmeier, has been given special permission to race the Chinese GP in the MX2 class at the weekend despite being over the age limit.

The German in is six years too old for the under-23 class, but in a bid to have more bikes on the line, GP organisers have given her special permission to race.

Other women racers have also been allowed to ride in previous years despite being over 23. The age rule has seen several top MX2 riders leave the series after being faced with a move to 450s. Zach Osborne and Thomas Covington both quit GPs when they became too old to content MX2.