The Superbike Commission in meeting held in Donington Park updated procedures regarding pitlane entry, lappers and re-starts, among others.
WorldSBK Lays Out Its Future Roadmap
The SBK Commission, which is responsible for the rules and regulations of WorldSBK racing, met at the recent Donington Park round in July to finalize numerous new technical regulations.
By Gordon Ritchie
The terminology used is of a new “roadmap” for WorldSBK, starting from 2027 through to 2030.
Next year, a “Manufacturer Specific” rev limit will be reintroduced, in increments of +/-500 rpm, with revisions of the rev limits every two rounds. The potential max rev reduction is an obvious way to help rebalance WorldSBK in terms of pure power outputs, given that Ducati has found ways to mitigate the current maximum fuel flow rate restrictions better than anybody else.
And on that note, after the Misano announcement of Brembo as a single braking system manufacturer in WorldSBK in 2027, there will also now be a single-make fuel supplier, although yet undisclosed.
There are already technical limits on the fuel formulations used in WorldSBK, but the formula can be varied within the rules to compensate for the reduced maximum fuel flow. Hence, the current fuel used by Ducati is more expensive than other options.
Another small change to help attenuate ultimate performance across the board is the reduction of the noise limit from 115 dB to 112 dB. In essence, less noise equals more baffles or restrictions, so less potential at the top end of the rev range.
All the above pertain to the 2027 season.
From 2028, there will be a new “Rank Concession” system, which is still under discussion, to reformulate the very complicated current concession system, which allows the underperforming manufacturers to introduce changes beyond the normal technical regulations.
The big humdinger of a change within the latest Superbike Commission regulations is that from the 2030 season, four-cylinder machines up to 1200cc will be allowed to race. Currently, the limit is 1000cc—hence the necessity of a homologation special V4 R Ducati, when the other V4 engines in the Ducati range are 1100cc.
The new Roadmap rules have come a bit too late for the newly formed Superbike Independent Teams Association (SITA) to have had any say in their formulation. The as-yet unofficial grouping of all the WorldSBK private teams heard about the new WorldSBK rules the same way as everyone else—through the press release and media—but the plan for SITA is to get a seat on the Superbike Commission itself.
Denis Sacchetti, team manager for the GoEleven Ducati squad, is the current de facto spokesperson for SITA, and he has been in contact with the current powers-that-be in the WorldSBK Commission.
Sacchetti described SITA, as it stands, thus: “At the moment it is just a group between the team managers from all the independent teams. Finally, we want to have the possibility to say something, and I think it is particularly important in this moment in WorldSBK. There are four entities in WorldSBK now. The FIM, the Dorna Group, the MSMA, and the Independent Teams. These four figures compose the WorldSBK Championship, in the end.
“Only the Independent Teams do not have a reference. So, what we need is a little bit different from the manufacturers, and we are not the Federation or the Promoter. In some situations, we suffer, and now it is important that we also have the possibility to participate in the Superbike Commission, to say what we need, to have proposals for the future, and have a direct vote for the new rules, and so on.”
So far, the feelers have been put out by SITA, initially by letter, and it seems there could be a meeting in September between SITA and the current Superbike Commission.
“They have given us feedback and replies, and SITA has replied to them,” Sacchetti continues. “The communication has started, and that is good. But it is too early now to say if they will accept our request or not. I think we will know in September, and it would be good to have a meeting with them to decide how to introduce us into the Superbike Commission.”
The following is the official press release from Dorna WSBK Organization…
(July 31, 2026) — The Superbike Commission—composed of MM. Gregorio Lavilla (MotoGP SEG, WorldSBK Executive Director, Chairman), Paul King (Director of the FIM Circuit Racing Commission), Biense Bierma (Secretary General of the MSMA), in the presence of Jorge Viegas (FIM President), Ludovic Reignier (FIM WorldSBK Technical Director), Roland Berger (Director of the FIM Technical Commission), Dominique Hebrard (FIM Technical Director), Svetlana Nazarova (Coordinator of the FIM Circuit Racing Commission & Secretary of the SBK Commission)—in a meeting held in Donington Park, made the following decisions (among others):
• Pitlane Entry – effective immediately
The Pit Lane Procedures have been updated in the Regulations.
In all track sessions including races, the only permitted pit lane entry and exit is by using the designated entry/exit point and route, defined by the broken white line, following the pit lane entry road and crossing the designated pit lane entry timing point. In all cases the specific information issued by Race Direction for each circuit applies defining prohibited routes. In case the broken white line is not crossed or the full pit lane entry/exit road is not used, the Stewards may penalise as appropriate.
• Lapped 2 or more laps riders – effective immediately
To prevent riders lapped by more than two laps from disrupting the race of other competitors or interfering with tire-change strategies aimed at setting fast laps.
Any rider who enters the pit lane during the race, to make adjustments and he/she is 2 or more full laps down (having been lapped more than once by the race leader) will be forbidden by the Race Direction to re-join the race.
• Re-starting a race that has been interrupted – effective immediately
It was clarified that, for the Supersport, Sportbike, and Women’s classes, a restarted race must be a minimum of 5 laps.
• Superbike World Championship Roadmap 2027-2030
- a) For 2027, the fuel will be provided by the appointed single fuel supplier contracted for the FIM World Superbike Championship and shall comply with the requirements of FIM Fuel Category 1.
The Manufacturer specific rev limit will be adjusted in increments of 500 rpm (up & down). The rev limit will be controlled by the manufacturers’ software and will be monitored by the FIM/DWO rev-logger. Revision of the Rev Limit will be every 2 rounds. Initial data will be based on each manufacturer’s rpm.
- b) For 2027, the fuel will be provided by the appointed single fuel supplier contracted for the FIM World Superbike Championship and shall comply with the requirements of FIM Fuel Category 1.
- c) For 2027, reduction of noise limit of -3 dB to 112 dB.
- d) For 2028, New Rank Concession system was discussed and will be introduced in 2028 with reformulation for definition of the ranks.
- e) For 2030, the engine capacity limit will be extended to 1200cc – 4 cylinders.
• Sportbike World Championship – effective immediately
Due to extreme heat conditions, it was agreed to allow the replacement of the stock radiators with larger-dimension racing radiators.
A regularly updated version of the 2026 FIM WorldSBK Regulations which contains the detailed text of the Regulations may be viewed on the FIM website
