Live data

The Motorsport API provides real-time session data as a race unfolds. This section covers how to access live data, how session states work, and how to structure your polling strategy.

In this section

• Live sessions - How to request currently active sessions, what data is available live, and how to poll efficiently.

• Session states - The state lifecycle from scheduled through to finished, and how to detect when a session goes live.

How live data works

Live data is available via the Live endpoints, which return all currently active sessions:

https://api.sportmonks.com/v3/motorsport/livescores
?api_token=YOUR_TOKEN

You can enrich the live response with results, lineups, laps, and pitstops using the &include= parameter:

https://api.sportmonks.com/v3/motorsport/livescores
?api_token=YOUR_TOKEN
&include=results;lineups

For a specific fixture that is currently live, the standard Fixture endpoints return the same live data. The Live endpoints are a convenience wrapper that filters for active sessions only.

Polling guidance

The API does not push updates. To track a live session, poll at a sensible interval. For position and gap data, polling every 10-15 seconds is sufficient. For lap timing, which updates on each new lap, polling every 30-60 seconds is more appropriate.

Each include adds to your query complexity and payload size. During a live session, keep your live requests lean: fetch position, interval, and gap data as a baseline, then use separate lower-frequency requests for lap and pitstop data.

See Query complexity for per-include complexity scores.

Related

• Entities - Live

• Results and Live Data Type Reference

• Enrich your response