The weekend
Three races per round — no other world championship on two wheels offers that. Friday is free practice. Saturday morning brings Superpole, a single frantic 15-minute qualifying session where Pirelli's super-soft SCQ qualifying tyre comes out; it sets the grid for both Race 1 and Sunday's sprint. Race 1, a full-distance race of around 20 laps, closes Saturday. Sunday opens late morning with the ten-lap Superpole Race, then Race 2 closes the weekend — and its grid is the format's twist: the sprint's top nine fill the first three rows in the order they finished, with everyone from tenth back lining up on their Saturday Superpole times. New for 2026, the standard schedule puts WorldSBK last on track both days, headlining over its support classes.
Points
Both full-length races pay the top fifteen: 25-20-16-13-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1. The Superpole Race pays the top nine: 12-9-7-6-5-4-3-2-1, and the SCQ tyre is legal there too, so it runs at qualifying pace from lights to flag. A perfect weekend is worth 62 points, and with twelve rounds in 2026 there are three points-scoring chances every single weekend.
What decides things
This is a production-based formula — every machine starts life as a road bike — so the rulebook's job is keeping six manufacturers honest. The old rev-limit balancing was scrapped from 2025; the lever now is fuel flow, adjusted at concession checkpoints every two rounds. Ducati and BMW began 2026 on the tightest allowance at 45.0 kg/h, Bimota on 46.0, Honda and Yamaha on 46.5 — and dominate too hard and you lose another 0.5 kg/h, as Ducati and Bimota did ahead of Assen. Struggling marques gain flow and superconcession parts instead. Minimum combined bike-and-rider weights stop featherweight riders banking a free advantage.
The championship
Three titles: Riders, Teams and Manufacturers, with all three races of every round counting towards each. Six marques contest 2026 — Ducati, BMW, Yamaha, Honda, Kawasaki and Bimota — and because Saturday's Superpole shapes two grids and the sprint shapes the third, a single bad qualifying lap can poison an entire weekend. Consistency across 36 races, not occasional brilliance, wins this title.