Supersport racing

As of 1999 the Supersport World Championship is a support class to the Superbike World Championship. Supersport racing has also been one of the most popular classes of national racing for many years.

To be eligible for Supersport World Championship, a motorcycle must have a four-stroke engine of between 400 and 600cc for four-cylinder machines, and between 600 and 750cc for twins, and must satisfy the FIM homologation requirements.

Supersport regulations are much tighter than in Superbikes. The chassis of a supersport machine must remain largely as standard, while engine tuning is possible but tightly regulated. As in World Superbike, a control tyre is used, although World Supersport regulations dictate that the tyres must be road legal and therefore slicks are not allowed.

A Supersport World Championship race takes place at every Superbike World Championship round. Starting positions are decided by the riders’ fastest laps from two 45-minute qualifying sessions. Each race is approximately 100km long.