2021 World Superbike calendar updated again
Further changes have been made to the 2021 Motul FIM Superbike World Championship calendar, including a new opening round in Aragon and the addition of a new circuit.
On 9 March, the FIM and Dorna World Superbike Organisation (DWO) announced the updated calendar, citing the changes were necessary due to ongoing local restrictions on mass gatherings and travel under COVID-19.
This year’s season had originally been scheduled to start in Assen on 23-25 April, with only European rounds held before the flyaways began in October.
Back on 16 February, DWO announced that the Assen round had been rescheduled to 23-25 July and the new season opener would be at Estoril, Portugal, on 7-9 May. The 9 March update has moved the Estoril round to a TBC date later in the year.
The 2021 WSBK season will now commence at Aragon, Spain, on 23-25 May – unchanged from its date on the original calendar released last November.
The new addition to the calendar is the Circuito de Navarra, which has been slotted in for 20-22 August, between the rescheduled Dutch and French rounds.
Circuito de Navarra is located in Los Arcos, a town in the Navarre region of northern Spain, close to the city of Pamplona that hosts the famous ‘running of the bulls’ event.
A 3.933km circuit made up of 15 turns (9 right, 6 left) and an 800m start-finish straight in its mostly flat clockwise layout, Circuito de Navarra opened in 2010 and has hosted national and international level competition, including the FIA GT1 World Championship for sportscars and the short-lived Superleague Formula open wheeler series. While some motorcycle competition has been held at Navarra, it has never hosted a round of WSBK or MotoGP.
Both World Superbike and World Supersport will compete at the Spanish circuit this August, but not the World Supersport 300 class.
The 9 March update makes no mention of changes to the overseas rounds, with Argentina still scheduled for 15-17 October and Indonesia scheduled for 12-14 November. Australia remains in 'TBD' status after the Indonesian round, with no date allocated.
The FIM and DWO say they will release further updates on the 2021 calendar when available.
