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MotoGP is set to follow the World Superbike Championship with the addition of a sprint race on Saturday, after qualifying.

The move is aimed at providing more on-track action during on Saturday’s, and adding a bit more spectacle to MotoGP’s racing format.

Sprint races have been a success already with the MotoE World Cup, where the electric bikes feature hard bar-to-bar racing in their limited racing distance.

The Saturday sprint race format in WorldSBK has also been a strong move for Dorna in the production series, so it doesn’t come as a surprise to see the powers are be implementing it in MotoGP.

The WorldSBK championship is to look a little different in 2022. Though the length will stay the same as in 2021 – 13 rounds – the order is to be reshuffled a little, with the intriguing prospect of a possible race at Istanbul Park in Turkey during the season.

The season kicks off later than usual, with Phillip Island likely to be moved to the end of the year, possibly as the season finale held after the Indonesian round at Mandalika Circuit.

Racing starts at the Motorland Aragon circuit, before heading north to Assen for the Dutch round of WorldSBK, which returns to its more normal date. After a four-week break, the series reconvences in Portugal for a race at Estoril.

The WorldSBK calendar heads east to Italy after that, for a race at Misano in June, before having a month off between the UK round at Donington Park. Two weeks later, the series travels to the Czech Republic to visit Most for the second time.

The summer break will be six weeks long, with the WorldSBK circus reconvening at Magny-Cours for the French round, then heading to Barcelona for the Catalonian round, and then back to Portugual, but this time to Portimão.

After Portimão, WorldSBK starts its sequence of flyaways, traveling first to Argentina, then to Indonesia. The championship will then most likely head to Australia for the final round at Phillip Island.

The thirteenth round is down as To Be Announced, but there have been very strong rumors circulating that WorldSBK is to head to Turkey and Istanbul Park.

Both Dorna and the circuit are keen to host a round, especially now that Toprak Razgatlioglu has become the first ever Turkish World Champion.

Confirmation of this could take some time, with details still to be confirmed. It is most likely that the race will be slotted in one of the larger gaps in the calendar, in June or August.

There are four calendar clashes with MotoGP, though only in remotely the same time zone.

Aragon WorldSBK is on the same weekend as MotoGP in Austin, Barcelona WorldSBK will take place several hours after the Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi, and Argentina WorldSBK will be half a day or so after the MotoGP race at Sepang.

WorldSBK Race 2 at Assen would normally happen at the same time as the MotoGP race at Portimão in Portugal, but there is a chance the WorldSBK race will be rescheduled for a later time.

The provisional calendar, and a statement from Gregorio Lavilla, WorldSBK Executive Director, appear below:

Provisional 2022 WorldSBK Championship Calendar:

DATE COUNTRY CIRCUIT WorldSBK WorldSSP WorldSSP300
April 8-10 Spain MotorLand Aragón X X X
April 22-24  The Netherlands TT Circuit Assen X X X
May 20-22  Portugal Circuito Estoril X X X
June 10-12 Italy Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli” X X X
July 15-17 United Kingdom Donington Park X X  
July 29-31 Czech Republic Autodrom Most X X X
September 9-11 France Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours X X X
September 23-25 Spain Circuit de Barcelona – Catalunya X X X
October 7-9 Portugal Autódromo Internacional do Algarve X X X
October 21-23 Argentina Circuito San Juan Villicum X X  
November 11-13 Indonesia Pertamina Mandalika International Street Circuit X X  
TBA Australia Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit X X  
TBA TBA TBA      

*All dates, events and the attendance of spectators are subject to the evolution of the global pandemic and the approval of the corresponding governments and authorities.

There has been yet another change to the MotoGP calendar for 2021. As had been expected, the Malaysian Grand Prix scheduled for October 24th at the Sepang International Circuit has been canceled.

In its place will be an extra race at the Misano circuit in Italy. Misano will be the second circuit, after Portimão, which will host two races this year, but not back to back.

Austin is back on the MotoGP calendar. Today, the FIM announced that the Motegi round of MotoGP has been canceled, as travel to Japan is still very difficult, with the Circuit of the Americas being put in its place on October 3rd.

The changes have obviously been made in response to the pandemic, and as COVID-19 continues to be a problem around the world, more changes are likely.

The Covid-19 pandemic has pushed back the start of the WorldSBK season even further. After the Assen SBK round, which had been due to kick off the 2021 WorldSBK season, was postponed until July, Estoril had taken over as season opener.

Now, however, the number of Covid-19 cases and the prevalence of the Brazilian variant in Portugal has meant that travel restrictions imposed to combat the virus make holding the Estoril round on the proposed dates extremely uncertain.

As a result, the Estoril round has also been postponed until later in the year. At the current point in time, a new date for the Portuguese round has not been set, but the most likely timing for the race is around July or August.

Just hours after the Brno circuit announced that it would not be hosting World Championship motorcycle racing, another MotoGP round bites the dust.

In this case, though, it is merely a postponement for a year, with the Thai government announcing that the Buriram round of MotoGP will not take place in 2021, but that the five year contract has been shifted along a year.

According to a story in the Bangkok Post. the Thai government has reached an agreement with Dorna to skip the race in 2021, but to extend their contract to host MotoGP to cover the period from 2022 to 2026.

MotoGP will continue into 2021, and scheduling difficulties continue to accompany it. Unlike 2020, however, Dorna and the FIM are prepared for it, however, and so today, we saw a provisional 2021 MotoGP calendar announced.

It is a very conventional-looking schedule, with a giant caveat attached underneath: “All dates, events and the attendance of spectators are subject to the evolution of the pandemic and the approval of the corresponding Governments and authorities.”