And so the voyage into the unknown begins. MotoGP kicks off its final round of this fundamentally weird season at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portimao.
The combination of the final round, a new circuit, and the Moto2 and Moto3 titles still at stake meant that it was a long and grueling day of interviews, media debriefs, and press conferences, with barely a moment to catch your breath or a quick bite to eat in between.
And so a strange and unexpected season draws to a close.
Fifteen rounds of Grand Prix motorcycle racing – fourteen rounds of MotoGP, after the premier class were forced to skip the opening race at Qatar at the very beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic – were far, far more than we expected in the early months of the year.
It is a credit to Dorna, the manufacturers, and to the teams that we have made it this far. It hasn’t been easy, and it meant squeezing a punishing schedule into a very brief period of time, and limiting the number of tracks and countries MotoGP visited, but in the end, we got our money’s worth.
So it is fitting that we end the 2020 MotoGP season at a brand new venue MotoGP has never visited before, the first new track since Buriram joined the calendar in 2018.
Episode 169 of the Paddock Pass Podcast is out, and this one is a WorldSBK show, which means that this one sees Steve English and Gordon Ritchie on the mics.
Our WorldSBK duo comes to us from Estoril, where the 2020 season culminated and finally crowned a champion during Saturday’s race. That man is now six-time WorldSBK champion Jonathan Rea.
The level of competition continues to increase in each season of the WorldSBK Championship, but each year Jonathan Rea rises to the occasion, with Kawasaki rider making it six titles in-a-row with the 2020 season.
For this year, the battle for the title came down to the final round of the season, with WorldSBK returning to the Estoril circuit in Portugal because of the coronavirus restrictions.
The new track on the calendar didn’t phase Rea though, as he took the championship easily during Saturday’s race.
MotoGP is set to make its debut at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve in Portimao in November, as the last race of the 2020 season, and as a brand new track on the calendar, the teams, factories, and riders have no data on the circuit.
To help them prepare for the race, Dorna has organized a test at the circuit ahead of the race.
The timing of the test is a little unfortunate. The test is due to take place on October 7th and 8th, directly before the French Grand Prix at Le Mans.
The 2020 WorldSBK calendar has been given another reshuffle. After the Argentina round was dropped for 2020 last week, this week, the race at Misano has been removed from the calendar, to be replaced by a race at the Estoril circuit in Portugal.
With the removal of Argentina, it made no sense to hold the Misano round on its originally scheduled date in November, but it seems that other factors, such as money and the danger of another flare up of the coronavirus, may have played a roll.
Instead, the Estoril circuit, near the Portuguese capital Lisbon, has been placed on the calendar, with a round to be held from 16th-18th of October.
Episode 157 of the Paddock Pass Podcast is out, and this one is a doubleheader, as we see both paddock crews on the mics.
Covering the Czech GP at Brno, we have David Emmett and Neil Morrison on the microphones, while Steve English and Gordon Ritchie bring us an update from the WorldSBK paddock at Portimão.
When MotoGP announced that it was adding a 15th round to its 2020 calendar, it was not exactly the best-kept secret in the MotoGP paddock that the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve in Portimão would get the nod.
Today, that news becomes official, with the Portuguese GP set to take place November 20th to 22nd.
Of course, in a season that has seen a bevy of cancelations and postponements because of the coronavirus outbreak, any race schedule has to be taken with a modest amount of uncertainty and skepticism.
That the Honda CB650R and its ilk make for excellent custom motorcycles should be an established fact by this point in time. Honda Motor Europe has prove this point extensively with its bevy of customs over the years.
So, it does not surprise us to see that the Japanese brand’s operations on the Iberian peninsula are using the CB as the basis for a custom bike build competition. What does surprise us though are some of the entries, as they are truly unique.
Take for instance this example, dubbed the Honda CB650R Rally. It’s done by Honda Wingmotor in Lisbon, Portugal, and as the name implies, it is a rally raid interpretation of the venerable street bike.
Episode 128 of the Paddock Pass Podcast is out, and this one is BONUS SHOW for this week, as Steve English and Gordon Ritchie join us on the mics from the WorldSBK pre-season test a Portimão.
For a treat as well, Alex Lowes and Chaz Davies join the show, with special interviews done trackside with Steve.
Episode 116 of the Paddock Pass Podcast is out, and this one is another WorldSBK show, as the production championship is finally back to racing action after its long summer break.
As such, this means that we see Steve English joined by Gordon Ritchie on the mics, as they are our World Superbike reporting duo for the 2019 season.
Recording straight from trackside at Portimão, the guys give some conversation about the on-track action in Portugal, but there is plenty to discuss about what is occurring off the track, as the contract season is heating up.