WSBK: Donington round postponed

The British round of the 2020 Superbike World Championship has been postponed due to legislation surrounding the coronavirus pandemic.

On May 22, the British government announced that any person arriving in the UK from abroad would be forced to self-quarantine for fourteen days. Similar measures had previously been put in place by many nations, such as New Zealand who implemented their ‘quarantine-on-arrival’ back in the middle of March. 

The decision by the British government has many implications for the motorsports world, and it seems that it put the final nail in the coffin of the World Superbike round scheduled to be held at Donington, which Dorna has announced is working to reschedule.

This will make 2020 the first year since 2010 – when Donington was in the middle of its failed attempt to bring Formula One to its asphalt – that the Superbike World Championship might not visit Donington Park, the track which of course saw the birth of WorldSBK back in 1988. 

Donington has become a staple of the championship since that first event in April 1988, and has missed only six seasons since then, the aforementioned 2010 season, as well as 2002 through 2006. But even in the years where Donington has not featured, a British round always remained on the calendar, with either Silverstone, Brands Hatch or both keeping Britain on the schedule. Now it appears that the UK’s omnipresence on the WorldSBK calendar will be over, which is a shame for the championship, the fans and the competitors – both riders and teams. 

The British round has often produced spectacular racing, such as the 2000 edition in Donington where Neil Hodgson and Chris Walker hunted down Pierfrancesco Chili and passed the Italian on the final lap to take a British 1-2 in their home (wildcard) race; or when Shane Byrne fought with John Reynolds in the second race at Brands Hatch in 2003, as Byrne took his first double-win in the World Championship.

Times have changed, the atmosphere at recent British rounds of the Superbike World Championship are somewhat suppressed compared to the heights of the late-’90s and early-2000’s.

Of course, this is not the end of WorldSBK in Britain, this year’s round has merely fallen victim to unprecedented circumstances which mean two of the major components which world championship racing requires to function – namely, (largely) unrestricted global travel and the gathering of thousands of people in a designated area – are either not currently possible or are severely prohibited.

WorldSBK Executive Director Gregorio Lavilla said:

We are very positive about the future, as all the signs are pointing in a good direction to start in Jerez. We are looking at all possible scenarios for all three classes to race, although we continue to work hard on finding the optimum scenario for all parties.

Instead, it should be a temporary absence for the UK, and WorldSBK will – in all likelihood – be returning to British shores for (at least) one round as soon as possible. Additionally, considering the nationality of its current dominant force and biggest star, Jonathan Rea, there is a strong incentive for Dorna to return to Britain once it is possible, which, hopefully, will be in 2021.