Coronavirus conerns around travel restrictions have forced WorldSBK organisers to postpone the Phillip Island round of the 2021 World Superbike Championship to later in the year.

Executive Director of the Motul FIM Superbike World Championship, Gregorio Lavilla, let that cat out of the bag overnight.

Gregorio Lavilla

“What I can say is that we are working on having three brand new circuits that WorldSBK has never seen before, but I can’t say where at the moment. In Australia, the event will take place at the end of the year in order to analyse the situation by that time; for sure now, it’d be very risky to decide and commit to being there in February. We are working on putting all of our European events first, starting in April until the first week of October and from that point, if the situation is good in Argentina, Australia and a race in the Middle East that we are working on, then they will go ahead. I think by July or August, we will know as we need to wait until nearer the time.”

The idea of running a WorldSBK event a week or two away from the traditional late October MotoGP weekend at the famous Victorian venue has been canvassed numerous times over the years and is no doubt being discussed now with various bodies such as the FIM, Dorna, the Australian Grand Prix Corporation and the Victorian Government.  But what makes perfect rational sense to me and you, might not make sense to those with their levers on the power to make such a thing happen. Politics and all that…

Source: MCNews.com.au