After some high-profile crashes in the 2017 WorldSBK season, blamed in some quarters on too low a race-starting tyre pressure in at least some cases, Race Direction has instigated a mandatory random tyre pressure check for three riders on each starting grid. This will cover both WorldSBK and WorldSSP classes in 2018.

A tyre pressure gauge, supplied by the organisers, will be given to the randomly chosen rider’s mechanic, who will check the tyre pressures on the grid to ensure that they reach the minimum of 1.6 bar (23.2 PSI).

For the first two rounds of the year any tyre pressure found below 1.6 bar will be notified to the team. From the third round onward they will receive an as-yet unspecified penalty if the starting tyre pressures are too low.

With the Phillip Island circuit so notoriously hard on the left hand side of rear tyres, especially in the WorldSSP class, it is also thought that the race distance for the 600 riders at PI could be 15 laps, not the originally scheduled 18.