Ducati and BMW Hit with Fuel Flow Reductions in WorldSBK

WorldSBK has imposed fuel flow limit reductions on Ducati and BMW ahead of this weekend’s Dutch Round at Assen.

The opening two rounds of the 2025 World Superbike Championship (Phillip Island and Portimao) have seen two riders claim a hat-trick apiece, with Ducati’s Nicolo Bulega getting the upper hand in Australia before BMW’s Toprak Razgatlioglu came roaring back with his first wins of the year.

But now, as a result of the performance from both the Panigale V4 R and M1000 RR so far through the opening two rounds, Ducati and BMW will be limited by the newly-imposed fuel flow limit reductions which Yamaha, Honda, Kawasaki or Bimota managed to avoid.

The fuel flow reduction has been capped at 0.5kg/h and article 2.4.3.2 of the WorldSBK regulations, says: “Manufacturers with a Performance Threshold of -0.250 or lower up to -0.499 will receive a step one Fuel Flow reduction for the next event.”

The small fuel flow limit reduction will result in Ducati and BMW going from 47kg/h to 46.5kg/h, while Yamaha, Honda, Kawasaki, and Bimota will stay at 47kg/h, which was the starting limit for all six manufacturers before the 2025 campaign got underway.

In terms of fuel flow reductions that could be implemented in the future, again depending on performance, ‘step two’ would be a more significant 1kg/h reduction for a manufacturer that has a performance threshold between -0.500 and -0.799, while the most severe limit would be ‘step three’.

If a manufacturer falls into step three it would be because of a performance threshold of -0.750 or higher, meaning it could encounter a fuel flow limit reduction of 1.5kg/h.

The next ‘checkpoint’ will be after the Italian Round at Cremona on 3–5 May, as a minimum of two rounds must be completed before fuel flow reductions can come into play.

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