The Superbike Commission has just announced that it is ruling out the idea of a minimum combined weight (rider/machine) in the WorldSBK championship for the 2023 season.
This rule, which could appear in 2024, was desired this season by drivers less light than the reigning world champion. Alvaro Bautista, the current regulation only specifies the minimum weight of motorcycles at 168 kilos.
We will have to wait, just like in the Supersport category whose performance balancing rules are extended by one year.
FIM Superbike and Supersport World Championships
Changes to the FIM Superbike and Supersport World Championship regulations
The Superbike Commission, composed of MM. Gregorio LAVILLA (Dorna, WorldSBK Executive Director), Paul KING (Director of the FIM Circuit Racing Commission), Biense BIERMA (General Secretary of the MSMA), coordinated by Paul DUPARC (Head of the FIM Circuit Racing Commission – Secretary of the SBK Commission), in the presence of Ludovic REIGNIER (FIM WorldSBK Technical Director), Dominique HEBRARD (FIM CTI Technical Manager) and Roland BERGER (FIM CTI Director) met on numerous occasions in recent weeks and took the decisions following:
The regulation is now mature. It is necessary to ensure the continuity of this category and to maintain the technical rules which have made its current success. The question of a minimum combined weight (rider/machine) was ruled out by the “SBK Permanent Bureau”.
The Supersport and Supersport Next Generation categories will see their 2022 technical rules maintained for an additional year. This postponement will allow current manufacturers subject to Supersport rules to work during this season to meet the basic technical/balancing rules of the 2024 Next Generation Supersport, mandatory for all manufacturers.
At the end of the 2023 season, a study establishing the results of performance balancing will be developed in order to establish performance balancing in this series for 2024.
