Gregorio Lavilla Talks FIM Europe Supersport Cup, STK1000 and the European Season
WorldSBK Sporting Director on the ESS class and STK1000 as WorldSBK returns to Europe in Aragon
MotorLand Aragon hosts the first European Round of the 2016 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship, and the stage is set to usher in the newest addition to the WorldSBK paddock: ESS, short for the FIM Europe Supersport Cup. In this feature interview, WorldSBK Sporting Director Gregorio Lavilla talks about the new ESS Class and looks ahead to the STK1000 season set the get underway at this Round. First, what is the new FIM Europe Supersport Cup?
The new ESS class sees the WorldSSP grid boosted by 11 more riders, who line up on the same grid as WorldSSP and race with the same rules. Both the technical and sporting regulations are exactly the same for ESS as they are for WorldSSP, and the only differences are where the riders who form part of the ESS take part, and how they score points. ESS riders only race on European soil, at all of the European Rounds. ESS riders score in their own table, and those points count towards the FIM Europe Supersport Cup standings.
Riders entered in the FIM Europe Supersport Cup can also score the same points as any other rider entered in the WorldSSP Championship too, and can be classified in the overall WorldSSP standings. An ESS rider can therefore score 20 points in the World Supersport Championship by coming second in a WorldSSP race, alongside scoring 20 points in the FIM Europe Supersport Cup.
In this interview, the Sporting Director also explains the differences between STK1000 and WorldSBK as we get to know another two fantastically competitive contests within the WorldSBK paddock.
