WSBK: 8-Race 2020 Calendar Announced

WorldSBK have announced a revised calendar for the postponed 2020 world championship season to begin at the end of July and run until at least the beginning of November. 

The Superbike World Championship is now scheduled to resume on July 31 for free practice in Jerez for round two of 2020, after this year’s season was put on hold after round one in Phillip Island due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This Spanish round had been touted for a while since rumours of the now-confirmed Spanish-Andalusian MotoGP double header began to surface. Indeed, the WSBK season is now due to start the week after MotoGP leaves Jerez. 

From the south of Spain, the series is slated to head to Portugal and the Portimao circuit to race on August 9, meaning back-to-back rounds – a rarity in WSBK – will get the season back underway in late summer. 

This double-header will be followed by a three-week break before racing resumes in MotorLand Aragon on August 30, where they will race again one week later, which will no doubt be a popular move with Chaz Davies who is something of a MotorLand master, winning half of the races in the Alcaniz circuit since 2013. 

Next up, and for the first time in WorldSBK’s 32-year history, the world championship for derivatives will head to Catalunya and the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for what will be round six of the 2020 season that will take place on September 20. 

The Catalan round will be followed up two weeks later by the French round, scheduled to take place in Magny-Cours on October 4, so at least we should get the traditional Magny-Cours weather in this wholly untraditional season.

Surprisingly, WorldSBK has made the decision to confirm a non-European round in its calendar, something MotoGP did not do when it released its calendar a few weeks ago, and something which Formula One has yet to do. This non-European round is scheduled to take place in Argentina as the San Juan Villicum circuit and, also surprisingly, this round will take place on the originally planned date of October 11. 

The ninth and final confirmed race for the 2020 Superbike World Championship is currently slated for November 8, and to take place at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli. 

This calendar is, of course, not final. Rounds may yet be cut should situations change, but also rounds may yet be added. WorldSBK is still considering Donington, Assen and Qatar to host rounds of the championship, but currently does not have confirmed dates for any of those circuits.