Rennie Scaysbrook | December 17, 2015
Dorna is trying hard to lift ailing TV audiences for WSBK by moving one race to Saturday
Photography by Gold & Goose
The long-awaited official notification that World Superbike Championship will now be run in a two-day format has come through from the FIM.
In a heavily revamped weekend schedule WSBK race one will now be held on Saturday and race two on Sunday, with each starting at 1:00pm local time for maximum possible TV exposure – by avoiding other major sports that take place later in the afternoon like Formula 1, golf, football, etc. It will also allow fans travel time to get to the venues for the start of each main feature race. A 10.30am race one start on Sundays, as per 2015 at most venues, was too early for all but the hardcore fans.
The new move is a gamble in some ways but with Dorna taking most of their revenue from TV rights, creating a more TV-friendly package was seen as the way forward. Better TV also means more opportunities for teams and manufacturers to find greater sponsorship and exposure for their existing partners.
Dorna is also stressing that the greater freedom in the schedule will allow more entertainment and local interest at races for fans to enjoy trackside, as well as just the races themselves. Hence space on the new schedule for “Spectator Activities”.
Potential downsides for the fans are ‘having’ to go for two days not one, or missing one race if they can only go on Sunday or Saturday, but not both days.
For teams and riders there is a loss of a single WSBK practice session, but the first two track outings will now last for one hour each on Fridays, not 45 minutes.
There have been major changes in the WSS schedule too, with their pre-race actions now a mirror of the WSBK class, including a two-part Superpole, just after the WSBK version. So we will have WSBK Superpole one starting at 10.30 on Saturday mornings, with the WSS version beginning at 11.30.
The Stock 1000 class remains in 2016, with that race at 14.20 on Sundays. There will still only be one WSS race each weekend, at 11.20 on Sunday mornings.
Gordon Ritchie
