Our photo of turn 10, called Tramonto, and the right bend in the picture to the right, which the drivers know as Turn 9 when braking. In the first Corona year 2020 there was a break here, with the cancellation of the event that was by far the most expensive event in the previous season together with Imola. Now the WorldSBK is coming back.

The return to the Adriatic with just one event in Italy

There were years when Italy hosted a total of three WorldSBK events. Started in 2002 with Monza, Misano and Imola. After that, in 2007, Vallelunga in northern Rome took the place of Imola for two years. Then the three first-mentioned routes continued until 2012. From then on there were only two events and after 2013 Monza never came back on the calendar. Due to the pandemic, both races disappeared and for this season only Misano was included in the planning of FIM and Dorna. This was not surprising because the two events in Italy were by far the most expensive and the ticket prices were even higher than at some MotoGP events.

The price doubling in Imola in 2019 compared to the previous year and its consequences – note that the improvised “grandstands” were not the cheapest brands. We took this picture at the Curva Tosa shortly before the start of the newly introduced Superpole Race on Sunday morning in May.

Ticket sales – no chance!

We wrote to Dorna directly, and it looks like the tickets for the presumably few spectators who are admitted to the route are going under the hand. Given the horrendous prices of the Italian events, we would also advise against visiting, because the gentlemen even charge fees for parking and for every extra there are additional costs. The comparison that we published in 2019 was simply hair-raising and showed a greed for money that we cannot understand based on what is offered. Below are the numbers from back then with a comparison of some events for a weekend WorldSBK and the unbelievable price difference between Imola and Misano and the rest with in one case over 4 times the total cost compared to Jerez. Haupttribüne = grandstand and Wochenend-Ticket = Weekend ticket.

In Imola in particular, there was extremely little on offer for spectators and drivers in terms of the standard of the completely outdated facility that had not been renovated for too long. Misano was much more pleasant for visitors just because of the excellent hotel offer thanks to the nearby seaside resort of Rimini. But, as you can see in our list, the prices were simply scandalous. Except for a few Italians, the rest of Europe can safely save themselves a visit to the Adriatic. Due to the high walls around the route, there is no chance of seeing anything without tickets. Perhaps some of them don’t even want to go there due to the current situation. It has just been announced that a 150-time murderer and mafia boss of retirement age has just been released. It is also interesting that there has so far hardly been an outcry in EU politics, we are living in really strange times!

Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki ZX-10RR) photographed by us after his victory on Saturday in heavy rain on the way to the podium in Misano in June 2019. The Northern Irishman is practically the king of the Adriatic, which is what his record in WorldSBK at the “Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli”, where he has won more often than anyone else in recent years.

Another world – the third round of the World Cup in Italy

Compared to Aragon and Estoril, the course near the Adriatic coast is a completely different world. For Ducati it will be the most important race of the season because they have never liked to lose in front of their home crowd. Embarrassingly, this happened to them at the WSBK premiere on this route and through a customer team. For more information see on this page under “What does Misano bring?” (just enter it in the search field). Because the race is so important for the teams from Redding, Rinaldi, Davies, Bautista and Bassani, some of them even tested there several times before the start of the season and Yamaha was one of them.

We photographed the sky over Misano on the Saturday before the first race of 2019 – it was almost clear that it shouldn’t stay dry for long. The current forecast is a certain rain forecast for Sunday, but that can still change.

Three WorldSBK without Misano tests and all with new bikes
In this respect, HRC Honda, BMW and Kawasaki come with a test deficit to the course formerly known as the Autodromo di Santamonica. While the first two are currently still a question mark in terms of their performance, the Greens travel at least with a lot of self-confidence. Both Johnny Rea and Alex Lowes delivered excellent races here. Because last year it was not driven in Italy, the CBR-1000RR-R SP Fireblade is also completely new for HRC Honda. In any case, a lot of excitement is guaranteed, which also applies to the smaller classes.

Aerial view of the route from Misano with the highway on the right, which goes down in a southerly direction towards Ancona. It goes up via Rimini, via Imola and Bologna to the bypass of Milan, the metropolis of northern Italy.

The “Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli”

Since Misano has been driven clockwise, the route has 6 left and 10 right turns. The longest straight is at the start-finish line at 530 meters. The grandstands offer a total of around sixty thousand spectators. There are also some natural grandstands. The huge range of accommodation options is pleasant for visitors thanks to the proximity of the Mediterranean holiday destination of Rimini. The pole and absolute lap record is already 3 years old, and it was set by Tom Sykes on a Kawasaki with 1’33.640 minutes. His team-mate at the time, Jonathan Rea, has held the lap record of 1’34.720 since his first year with the Greens, which he set in the second race. The Northern Irishman has already won eight times at Misano, making him the sole record holder in terms of the number of wins, and he will definitely remain so after the 2021 event.

Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Ducati) photographed by us after 14th place in the second race in the Parc Fermé of Misano 2019 when he was comforted by his crew. With a fall in the 2nd lap, he had given away a victory that he believed to be safe, similar to the previous one in Jerez de la Frontera, and only one race later he was to lose the championship lead in Donington to Jonathan Rea, who won the 1st race in the rain, while the Spaniard fell again.

Intermediate result in the WSBK World Championship before the Italy round

Intermediate result in the WSSP 600 World Championship

For Thomas Gradinger it was apparently not only due to his injury in Aragon, but shortly after the Estoril weekend it leaked that the Austrian and his Italian team had already separated again. The former podium driver with a 3rd place in Assen 2019, for example, has lost nothing with such an amateur squad. As we saw in Aragon, the machine had absolutely no chance. It is not known whether the “DK Motorsport Team” had a trained mechanic or a hairdresser looking after the Gradinger Yamaha R6. His lack of speed, which we had to observe on the straight on site, rather suggest the latter.

Misano weekend schedule