MotoGP organisers Dorna Sport have released a provisional 20-round calendar for the 2021 championship with three events listed as reserves.
The 2021 schedule largely follows the blueprint of the original pre-Covid affected 2020 calendar, with Qatar hosting the season opener once again on March 28th, slightly later the planned 2020 round.
The Thailand Grand Prix will no longer host the second round of the year though after initially being slated to move from its late-year slot to the start of the season for 2020, instead taking place a week after Japan on October 10th.
The 20 Rounds have provisionally been set between March and November next year, Portimao, Indonesia and Russia on the reserve list
The provisional 2021 MotoGP calendar has been released as we get a first taste as to what next year’s season might look like. 19 venues are currently on the provisional calendar with a 20th to be decided, while Portimao, Indonesia and the Igora Drive Circuit in Russia are on the ‘Reserve Grand Prix Venues’ list.
The provisional calendar will see the opening race of the season take place in Qatar, the usual opening Grand Prix venue at the end of March. After a weekend off the MotoGP circus heads to Argentina and America on the 11th and 18th of April before the European leg begins – as usual – at the Circuito de Jerez-Angel Nieto on the 2nd of May.
France, Italy, Catalunya, Germany, Netherlands and – subject to homologation – Finland will lead us to the 11th of July, with the next venue on the list currently down as TBC. If the provisional calendar becomes the final one, then Austria and Great Britain host MotoGP™ races in August, before the Aragon and San Marino rounds take place in September.
Then, hopefully, it’s time for the flyaway races. Japan and Thailand will be back-to-back on the 3rd and 10th of October, before Australia and Malaysia get underway on the 24th and 31st of October. And then, after a weekend off, the grand finale will be held in Valencia on the 14th of November as another season draws to a close in eastern Spain.
CARMELO EZPELETA, CEO of Dorna Sports: “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. 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.
“As you know, there is no Brno on the calendar yet. 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. If we don’t have confirmation we can’t include it on the calendar. We will see exactly, but we have two reserves in Europe, Portimão and Russia, and Mandalika in Indonesia. It depends where the gap is and we’ll decide if it’s necessary or not to include the Grands Prix on the calendar.
“Franco Uncini went to Igora Drive to look at it, it’s a really fantastic venue. We are looking at the possibility for it to be on the calendar. Today we have 20 GPs on the calendar and it’s not possible, but in case any of those are not possible, we will try to allocate Igora Drive as second reserve after Portimão.
“This year we tried to compromise between the possibilities and the short time we’ve had given when the pandemic allowed us to re-start. In Europe it’s not possible to race later than we are doing. We are here in Valencia and the weather is so-so – I hope it will be even better in Portimão! Unfortunately we couldn’t travel outside Europe so we did the maximum we could, during this period from July until now. Including Qatar, we have had 15 Grands Prix and we’re very proud; everyone in Dorna, the FIM, IRTA, the teams… we are extremely happy with the result we’ve obtained working together in this difficult year.”
Provisional 2021 pre-season test dates announced
MotoGP will have two tests in early 2021, plus the shakedown test at the Sepang International Circuit
After the provisional 2021 calendar was announced, the provisional dates for pre-season tests ahead of the 2021 MotoGP World Championship have now also been announced.
MotoGP will have two tests in early 2021, plus the shakedown test at the Sepang International Circuit. See below for the full provisional pre-season test schedule, including Moto2 and Moto3: Shakedown Test: 14th – 16th February
Sepang Test: 19th – 21st February
Qatar Test: 10th – 12th March
Set up takes place on the two days preceding MotoGP tests.
Moto2™ and Moto3™ will have one test.
Jerez Test: 16th – 18th March Set up takes place on the day preceding the Moto2™ and Moto3™ test.