Bennetts British Superbike bosses will introduce a MotoGP-style long-lap penalty at this weekend’s Silverstone opener.

The long lap, which was seen at the Qatar MotoGP round for the first time, is to replace the drop-position system.

The penalty may be used to correct situations where an advantage has been gained, eg an overtake under yellow flag or safety car flag conditions that’s not corrected, repeated track limit or an unfair manooeuvre.

“The advantages are a ‘real time’ penalty that can be easily understood and to replace the current in race ‘change position’ penalty which is difficult to communicate and manage within a race with many variables,” said an official notification.

“At each circuit we will assess a suitable long Lap penalty zone, either a tarmac run off area or the outside radius of a suitable corner.”

For this weekend, the long-lap will at the Luffield section of track (see above).