Back in October we already broke the news that the World Superbike championship would see important, if not radical, changes for the 2019 season, and now the SBK Commission confirmed that the structure of each of the 13 rounds from next year’s calendar will have three races for the Superbike class.
Next season the main class of this world championship gains a third race, which will be called Tissot Superpole Race, a sprint race with only 10 laps.
But let’s see exactly what changes every day.
On Friday, there will be less Free Practice sessions for World Superbike riders. Instead of three, there will be only two sessions. With a third Free Practice session on Saturday morning, this means that from 2019 onwards, the SBK riders will only get a total of three Free Practice sessions instead of four in 2018.
For the Supersport 600 class, there’s no difference on Friday, while the Supersport 300 class will be divided into two groups, each with two Free Practice sessions. The SSP300 class will be split into two groups with the objective of having less riders on track at the same time.
Saturday will also bring changes: the current Superpole format will change, and instead of SP1 and SP2 sessions, there will only be a single Superpole session that decides the grid position for World Superbike Race 1, held in the beginning of Saturday afternoon.
Supersport 600 and Supersport 300 will also get a single Superpole session, but in the lower class, riders who qualify below 30th place, will need to enter a Last Chance race. The first six riders in this race, will occupy the last six places of the Supersport 300 grid for the Sunday race.
On Sunday there’s more changes, and the biggest one yet, the arrival of the brand-new Tissot Superpole Race for the Superbike class.
This race will happen Sunday morning with only 10 laps, and riders getting the same grid positions as for Race 1. At the end of the race, only the first nine riders will get points:
1st) 12 points
2nd) 9 points
3rd) 7 points
4th) 6 points
5th) 5 points
6th) 4 points
7th) 3 points
8th) 2 points
9th) 1 point
The third race for the Superbike class will happen Sunday afternoon. Grid positions for this race, with regular length, will be defined by the results of the Tissot Superpole Race, meaning the first nine riders of the sprint race will be the first nine riders on the grid for Race 3, with the remaining places on the grid set by the results from the Superpole qualifying session.
On Sunday the Supersport 600 and Supersport 300 races are also held, with fans getting a total of four races on Sunday.
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