BSB introduces MotoGP-style Long Lap penalty

Bennetts British Superbike championship organisers have introduced a Long Lap penalty for the 2019 season which gets underway at Silverstone this weekend.

BSB is set to adopt a Long Lap penalty for riders who gain an unfair advantage, such as overtaking under yellow flags or under safety car conditions, repeatedly exceed track limits or make an unfair overtaking manoeuvre.

The new Long Lap rule replaces the change position penalty due to the difficulties in communicating and managing the penalty in racing conditions.

Each BSB track will use a tarmac run-off area or the outside of a suitable corner. At Silverstone the outside of Luffield (Turn 6) will be used (see image above). The track will be marked with dotted yellow lines to indicate the inside line of the penalty zone with penalised riders having to go left of the line.

Riders given a Long Lap penalty must serve it within three laps of being notified and will receive a pitlane ride-through penalty if they fail to take the Long Lap route.

BSB Series and Race Director Stuart Higgs, who is also an FIM Steward, helped introduce the Long Lap penalty in MotoGP from the start of this season.

The new penalty system initially caused confusion at the season-opner in Qatar when Romano Fenati unnecessarily took the Long Lap during the Moto3 Grand Prix having thought he’d been penalised, but he had only been given an official warning on his bike’s dashboard from race organisers.