2020 WorldSBK round at Jerez gets go-ahead, Oschersleben cancelled

Dorna has submitted a proposal to host a round of the 2020 WorldSBK Championship at Jerez on July 31-August 2 as it pushes ahead with plans to follow directly on from MotoGP.

Today Dorna confirmed it has submitted a proposal to kick off the 2020 MotoGP World Championship at Jerez on July 19, followed by another round at the same Spanish venue a week later. WorldSBK will then arrive in Jerez to compete the following weekend.

Though the proposal still needs to be ratified, it follows a productive meeting between Dorna and the Government of Spain to confirm the potential first events of both series’ in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak that has put an indefinite pause on any racing action.

As it stands, Donington Park is still scheduled for July 3-5 but is expected to be cancelled or postponed.

“The first thing is that we are putting 100% effort into getting the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship underway in the safest possible environment,” said Gregorio Lavilla. “The positive is that there has been a proposal made to the Spanish government to allow WorldSBK to race at Jerez on the 2nd August.”

However, in announcing Jerez, WorldSBK confirmed the series’ planned return to Germany at the Oschersleben has been cancelled.

The east German venue was to mark WorldSBK’s comeback to the country having fallen off the schedule in 2017, but strict measures on gatherings mean Oschersleben will not go ahead.

“Of course, the main health is the most important thing. But it kind of hurts that our efforts to bring back the WorldSBK to Oschersleben will be unrewarded for now,” said circuit CEO Ralph Bohnhorst. “Lots of work in event organisation was already done to make the WorldSBK return a complete success and established in one shot. 

“Despite all these developments, the great cooperation with Dorna will stick in our minds. The colleagues there are doing a really good, professional job supporting us in excellent way! They would have put on a great show in Oschersleben. We are really happy to work together with them and to make a new attempt for next year.”

Jerez’s confirmation is the first sign that WorldSBK will begin tracing the movements of MotoGP in order to get a handful of rounds completed this year. 

Earlier this week Dorna said it was hoping to complete six more events – in addition to February’s Australian opener – with the Red Bull Ring and Brno rumoured to be making an appearance on the revised schedule.