British Championship promoters MSVR have confirm the establishment of a new racing category that will run alongside the Dickies British Supersport Championship at BSB rounds.

The middleweight class for typically 600cc capacity machines has regularly provided some of the fiercest, closest racing ever seen and for nearly three decades has been exclusively restricted to production based models.

Following two years of evaluation, prototype machines of a similar specification to those seen at World and European Championship level in the Moto2 category will now be formally accepted into the British Championship.

The new category, called British GP2, will allow for current Honda-powered Moto2 machinery that has been used in World or European Championship competition as well as new, independent constructor projects utilising any 600cc four cylinder or 675cc three cylinder engines to a technical specification very similar to Stock 600.

The British Supersport and British GP2 categories will race side by side and be separately classified – together with a background classification to see who is the best of the best.

“This is a critical point for this racing category. We have been concerned for some time that certain manufacturers have ceased producing 600cc sports bikes, which directly affects the sustainability of the Supersport class,” said series director Stuart Higgs.

“The integration of independently constructed bikes with a racing chassis and a standard engine has proven to be equitable with the Supersport technical level of a standard chassis and a tuned engine.

“At World Championship level they are on the cusp of a migration to a new generation of Moto2 machines and engines which will allow the flow of previously unavailable equipment into the marketplace. This coupled with a resurgence in interest from independent engineering companies keen to develop bespoke racing hardware makes this the ideal time to refresh this highly important category of racing.

“Personally I’m extremely excited to see a new level of prototype machines in the British Championship, I think that the public will appreciate the spectacle and for riders and teams to be exposed to chassis development will be an incredible benefit for their advancement.”