If there wasn’t already enough anticipation building ahead of the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship, Grand Ridge Brewery Australian Round, there’s been a new curveball thrown into the mix. Following the Official Test that took place at the start of this week at Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, with World Supersport completing 8 hours of testing on Monday and WorldSBK completing 8 hours of testing on the Tuesday, it was later announced mid-week that both races would be a flag-to-flag due to tyre wear.
So, let’s take a short look into what we can expect at the Grand Ridge Brewery Australian Round:
Tyre Usage
WORLDSBK: The standard weekend format across World Superbike rounds is that riders are allowed to use up to 10 front tyres and 11 rear tyres. In consideration of the new race format at the Grand Ridge Brewery Australian Round with the new race format of a compulsory pit stop, the use of two extra sets of tyres is allowed. No tyre sticker, front or rear, is needed for the Sunday’s Race 2.
WORLDSSP: In a usual format, World Supersport have an allocation of 7 front tyres and 8 rear tyres, but for the Grand Ridge Brewery Australian Round, they will have two extra sets of tyres. No tyre sticker is required on the front or rear for Race 2.
Race Distance
WorldSBK: Both World Superbike Race 1 and Race 2 has been reduced by 2 laps, with the final race format now totalling 20 laps of the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit.
WorldSSP: The race distance remains the same as the usual schedule, being 18 laps.
Pit-stop window and tyre changes
WorldSBK: The World Superbike pit-stop window will be between laps 9 and 11. It is mandatory for each rider to change their rear tyre, a change of front tyre is optional.
WorldSSP: It is mandatory for all World Supersport riders to enter the pits between laps 8 and 10. Similar to WorldSBK, the change of a rear tyre is mandatory whereas the front is optional.
Minimum pit intervention time
WorldSBK: The minimum pit intervention time, the time they are required to be in pit lane for, is 63 seconds.
WorldSSP: The minimum pit intervention time is longer than WorldSBK at 78 seconds.
In the instance of a race restart
WorldSBK: The maximum number of laps to be covered with a single dry rear tyre is 11 laps for World Superbikes.
WorldSSP: The maximum number of laps to be covered with a single dry rear tyre is 10 laps around Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit.
In the instance of a wet race:
It will be the same distance as each scheduled dry race for both WorldSBK and WorldSSP, and no mandatory pit stop will be required.
In the case of starting the race with a wet rear tyre, the rider who decides to change to a dry rear tyre must respect the maximum limit of 11 laps in WroldSBK, and 10 laps in WorldSSP on a single tyre.
