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The 2019 World Superbike Championship (WorldSBK) will consist of three races at every stop.
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The organizers will add a sprint race to Race 1 and Race 2.
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The additional race ought to bring more exposure to the series.
The 2019 World Superbike Championship will see three races for each round.
There is without doubt that the World Superbike Championship’s (WorldSBK) popularly has been sagging over the past few years.
However, the production-based championship remains an important platform for manufacturers to showcase their engineering abilities.
What does “production-based racing” mean? Manufacturers are required to homologate a certain number of motorcycles to be eligible for racing. In other words, if a certain race bike features specific technologies, its road-going version must also feature the same. This is how we get “homologation” models such as the ZX-10RR, Panigale R and so forth.
WorldSBK is also where fans get to watch bikes like the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R, Ducati Panigale, Honda CBR1000RR, BMW S 1000 RR, etc. duke it out on a world stage. MotoGP bikes are pedigree racing machines, on the other hand.
Dorna WSBK Organization (the subsidiary of the MotoGP rights holder) is aware of these facts and felt that they need to do something to bring the crowd back into watching the series, like it did during its zenith in the early and mid-90’s.
So, a sprint race will be added on Sunday morning.
Dorna WorldSBK and the FIM hope that the extra race will bring more exposure to benefit the teams, sponsors and spectators alike. Further details will be made known in time.
Daniel Carrera, WorldSBK Executive Director explains, “A third ‘sprint race” in the WorldSBK format is something we have been planning for a long time now, so we are delighted to see the plans coming together. We are committed to bringing exciting races year on year, and we think the addition of a sprint race will add to the WorldSBK experience. We are continuing to work on the final adjustments and hope to bring more details in the near future.”
Certain WorldSBK rounds also include World SuperSport (WorldSSP), SuperStock (STK1000) and World SuperSport300 (WorldSSP300) races.
