Our picture from Motorland Aragon with the nearby town of Alcaniz in the background. Instead of Estoril, the WorldSBK season is set to start here again.

Portugal season start canceled – another racetrack in Spain

This further calendar change of the WorldSBK was expected and the season opener in Portugal was canceled. Since the official term postponed would have to include a new date, we intentionally use the unambiguous formulation. As a reminder: Numerous MotoGP races were “postponed” in 2020, but neither Assen, Silverstone nor Sachsenring took place in the same year. With the new calendar, Aragon is currently the season opener. But caution is advised, as all venues were only mentioned as provisional due to the corona pandemic. It is advisable not to book a flight at the overseas race in Indonesia in particular.

Our photo from the roof of the pit area in Aragon with curve 2 in the foreground and the large auditorium in the infield at the back. The first race is to start here on Saturday, May 22nd, 2021 and our hotel has been booked for months.

The new event on the Circuito de Navarra

Located between Saragossa and Bilbao, with the small town of Logroño 30 km (18,64 mls) away, this circuit is located in northern Spain. Who wants to combine WorldSBK with a beach holiday, you have to try it near Bilbao on the Atlantic. Otherwise, he would choose a visit to the Circuito de Cataluña in September, which is close to the Costa Brava and is always worth a visit, also for MotoGP events. But the racetrack from Navarra in the Rioja area should still be very attractive for the WorldSBK. It was one of the 3 new courses originally planned and announced for the near-series World Cup. With the exception of the Mandalika Resort in Indonesia, these were still missing in the first version of the calendar.

The start-finish straight of the beautifully situated route in northern Spain. We would look forward to a nice tour across France here in August and hope that the date can be kept.

Some advantages of the Circuito de Navarra

Since Pamplona is not too far away in the north-east of the route, there is no problem for spectators as in Aragon, Spielberg or BuriRam with only a few places to stay at a reasonable distance. There is a very good range of hotels and pensions in the nearby town of Logroño alone. Furthermore, those who like to drink good wine are definitely not in the wrong place in this area. We have seldom enjoyed much better wines than products from this area, at most much more expensive.

With 9 right and 6 left turns, the Circuito de Navarra, like most of the other routes, is clockwise on the calendar. The racetrack was completed in June 2010 and is 3.933 km long and the start-finish straight is 800 m (0,497 mls).

Very good location for fans from the rest of Europe
With regard to the approach by car or motorbike from Central Europe, the area has another advantage over, for example, Barcelona. You don’t have to travel via southern France from England, the Netherlands, Switzerland or Germany to get there, as is the case with a visit to Catalonia, for example. Especially in the main holiday season (if there will be one next summer despite Covid-19), we often experienced the journey as a test of patience. Even with the bike it was seldom pleasant, as many main axes were often clogged and hotels were often hardly available and terribly expensive, even when traveling.

Aerial view of the Circuito do Estoril in Portugal. The event in May was canceled and without a new date. As a high-risk area from the point of view of most of the rest of Europe, this was the logical decision. A new appointment at a later point in time is currently not ruled out.

The new WorldSBK calendar

After the announcement of the postponement of Assen on February 16, the third edition came on March 9, 2021 with still some question marks. In bold the previous changes and in italics the route, which is currently not yet completed and homologated. In addition to San Juan in Argentina and Phillip Island in Australia, however, the event in Indonesia is also fundamentally in question due to the pandemic. Hopefully the Dorna will find a replacement solution for this case, with further European events. It would definitely be a shame if there were only 8 rounds again like in the first Corona year 2020.

To present the route, Dorna has put together an overview in a short video clip, which can be accessed using the following link.
WSBK route presentation: https://www.worldsbk.com/en/videos/2021/2021%20WorldSBK%20Navarra%20Drone%20circuit%20presentation?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_content=Mar09_NavarraVideoImage&utm_campaign=Traffichttps://www.worldsbk.com/en/videos/2021/2021%20WorldSBK%20Navarra%20Drone%20circuit%20presentation