Former 500GP rider Scott Smart has stepped down from his role as the WorldSBK technical director and will be replaced by some French gadge called Ludovic Reignier, who wears specs so must be ok.

Smart was appointed to the role - which is an FIM job not Dorna - in 2014 at the behest of sporting director Greg Lavilla and has made significant improvements to the technical regulation which has brought racing much closer together.

Among the most notable is the balancing rule which has seen a large number of manufacturers across all three classes attain regular podiums where previously, it would have been almost impossible

Smart has also been working on a minimum weight rule in the Superbike class - which will come into play in 2024 - but didn’t quite attain the holy grail, which was a unified electronics strategy across all Superbike classes.