PHILLIP ISLAND SECURES SLOT ON PROVISIONAL 2021 MOTOGP CALENDAR

Phillip Island secures slot of provisional 2021 MotoGP calendar – Photo: LAT

MotoGP is set to return to Australia in 2021 with Phillip Island listed on the provisional 20 event MotoGP calendar for next year.

By RHYS VANDERSYDE

The Victorian venue returns to its traditional October slot having missed out after the COVID-19 pandemic forced drastic changes in the schedule for this year.

19 venues are currently listed on the provisional calendar, while the early August date typically used for the Czech GP at Brno is currently listed as TBC.

Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta explained Brno’s current absence is a result of the circuit needing to be resurfaced inline with FIM homologation following complaints this year.

“As you know, there is no Brno on the calendar yet,” said Ezpeleta.

“We’ve been talking to them for many years and always the requirement for FIM homologation is to have some works done to the circuit, especially re-surfacing, which is compulsory since the last GP.

“During the Safety Commission we decided it was compulsory. Unfortunately due to the changes, the South Moravian government have not been able to confirm this necessity to resurface and do the works needed for the Grand Prix.

“So we decided to not put it on the calendar and wait to see if they can achieve that; if not we will put reserve Grands Prix in that period. Not exactly there, because it depends if we have Brno or not.

“The first idea is that Brno has been on the calendar a long time and it’s an important Grand Prix, but it’s also important that the safety issues, especially resurfacing, is compulsory.

In addition to the 19 races confirmed, which also includes the debut of Finland’s KymiRing should the track pass its own FIM homologation requirements, three reserve venues have also been announced.

The first of which is Portugal’s Algarve International Circuit which will host this year’s MotoGP finale. The street circuit venue on the Indonesian island of Lombok is also listed as a reserve having signed a deal to be included on the 2021 championship, while the new Igora Drive Circuit in Russia has also been listed.

2021 season will start a couple of weeks later than in recent years with the season opener under lights at Qatar’s Losail International Circuit scheduled for March 28th.

“We try to return to normality, we talked to all the promoters and made the normal calendar because it’s important to block the days and to know exactly on which days there will be the Grands Prix,” said Ezpeleta.

“We’ll start in Qatar as usual, and finish in Valencia as usual for another year. And in the middle there will be 18 Grands Prix together with the first and the last.

“We hope we can do it.

“Obviously there are many things we don’t know yet, that’s why we’ve included three reserve Grands Prix to be allocated wherever it’s possible and also taking into consideration the weather considerations of each place.

“The most important thing for me and the message I want to give is that we will try and maintain the days with a Grand Prix on those days.”

MotoGP Provisional 2021 Schedule

Reserve Venues:

Portugal – Algarve International Circuits
Indonesia – Mandalika International Street Circuit**
Russia – Igora Driver Circuit

Shakedown Test: 14th – 16th February
Sepang Test: 19th – 21st February
Qatar Test: 10th – 12th March

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