MotoGP Portugal: Can Portimão also be on the calendar?

Motoracing / Publishing

To date, Dorna can count on at least seven tracks potentially capable of hosting MotoGP and Superbikes, in only four countries. Emergency scheduling is possible.

Setting up an emergency calendar for MotoGP could be less complicated than might have been feared just a few weeks ago. At Portugal, on May 29, the football championship will resume, so it is likely that Portimão will also be able to enter the list of tracks that can be used by the best classes and Superbikes from July to the end of November, the temporal “window” that Dorna has set itself for a season in 2020. The Algarve track was not included in the original calendar, but since 2008 it has hosted the Superbike, which was to have its meeting on September 5-6. The circuit is completely isolated, so it is in an ideal situation to guarantee compliance with anti-contagion measures. The venue is located 20 kilometers outside the populated centers of the coast, and in the immediate vicinity there are elegant hotel structures capable of accommodating the 1 people needed to manage the Grand Prix behind closed doors.

Dorna: at least seven tracks available

Opportunities to establish the emergency schedule Dorna do not miss. There are the four Spanish circuits: Barcelona, Aragon, Jerez and Valencia. The top three are set to host MotoGP and Superbike this year. The possible start of MotoGP 2020 in Jerez was discussed, July 19. There are also opportunities to Zeltweg (Austria), owned by the Red Bull brand also heavily involved in motorcycles, and Silverstone (United Kingdom). These two sites will host a double GP each of F1. By adding Portimão, we arrive at seven potentially available routes. If each of them organized two races, on the F.1 model, MotoGP could set up a world championship of 14 GPs, against the 20 expected. The same goes for Superbike: with seven more rounds, in addition to the one regularly organized in Australia, eight out of thirteen were expected. The difficulty will be making ends meet and managing all the complex economic situations that arise.

Situation towards normality

In many European countries, the situation is quickly returning to normal. In addition to Portugal, Poland and Denmark are also preparing to return to the football summit, once again on the last weekend of May. Germany will decide on Wednesday, May 6, to restart the Bundesliga: the Serie A teams have been training for a month, and no alarm has caused the positivity of three Cologne employees (perhaps two players and a storekeeper) detected. They have no symptoms, they will go into quarantine but the rest of the team will continue their preparation as planned. Even in Britain, the decision on the Premier League is expected within days. The idea is to play all the matches in six stages: three in London, one in Brighton as well as Derby and Nottingham, the towns closest to the Donington track. The biggest problem for motorcycles to date is the possibility of moving the paddock from one country to another. Concentrating all or most meetings on the Iberian Peninsula could be a solution.