The Superbike commission has given the go-ahead to a new set of homologation rules, which state that now only 125 units are required for a manufacturer to be able to take part in the Superbike World Championship (WSBK) from 2014, the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM) confirmed in a press release.
The revised requirements are intended to ensure that homologation procedure rules reflect the current state of the motorcycle industry, the FIM said.
Under the approved homologation changes, the minimum number of units to start the procedure will be 125. Manufacturers will need to extend the number to 250 at the end of the first year of participation, and to further increase it to 1,000 at the end of the second year.
The initial aim of the homologation rules was to deliver a greater parity among bike manufacturers by ensuring that the number of bikes they produce is in line with the number of bikes they are planning to race with. The previous homologation requirements stated that 1,000 examples of one bike must be produced. However, last month’s entry submission by Bimota over its inability to meet the rules raised some discussions, prompting the FIM to reduce the number.
Even though some allege the change to be in favour of the Italian brand’s participation, the FIM said that it was intended to better respond to the current situation of the industry, which has been suffering declines in production and sales over the past few years, Crash.net commented.
The rules could be subject to further changes, the FIM noted.
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