The restriction of test days in the World Superbike Championship regulations frequently causes dissatisfaction among manufacturers, teams and drivers. This is how the system works, which no one really likes.
For the first time, a testing limit was written into the regulations for the 2021 World Superbike Championship. Since then, registered teams have been allowed to test with their regular drivers for a maximum of ten days to save costs and not give the factory teams a huge advantage more than individuals. Official tests are not included in this.
It quickly became apparent that this clause had not been thought through. When the weather doesn’t cooperate, the team travels to the race in vain because the rain test provides little information. This really cost him. Or if it was too cold for testing in the morning and the bikes stayed in the pits, the whole day was cancelled. And ten days was not enough to find.
That is why the law has been weakened over the years. Manufacturers who receive concessions are allowed to conduct trials for 16 days. It was also agreed that half a day can also be taken. The latter was again strengthened so that not any number of days, but a maximum of two and a half days is possible.
“We have to be very careful on the day,” lamented Leon Camier, Marc VDS pilot instructor Sam Lowes. “With the test on Phillip Island, we have twelve days available. We can arrange ten days ourselves. We can divide the day into two half-hours of four hours each. It doesn’t matter now when you drive this time. However, you must be able to provide proof that it was not more than these four hours.”
The ten-day limit also applies to manufacturers who are introducing new motorcycles or are new to the World Superbike Championship. Perhaps that is why Ducati is developing the new V4R presented at EICMA 2024 with its test riders for a year and will not introduce it to the championship until 2026.
The Bimota KB998 was presented at the trade show, but it will already be used in next season’s championship. The test block is a big concern, because only test driver Florian Marino was working on two days of the four days of testing at Jerez. “Because of this stupid restriction of test days, we will only test with the drivers for one day,” grumbled team manager Guim Roda during the winter test last week. “14 days would make more sense to everyone, but no, it could only be ten days.”
Because the rule with limited test days is only available to regular drivers of the World Superbike Championship, the manufacturers created special test teams that work on improving the motorcycle throughout the year. The bottom line is that financial spending is higher than it was before 2021.
