MotoGP organisers Dorna Sport have released a provisional 20-round calendar for the 2020 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.
Argentina instead has been pencilled in for the second round of the campaign before the MotoGP circus heads to the United States and the Circuit of the Americas in early April.
The Spanish GP at Jerez will kick off the European leg of the series on May 2nd ahead of the French GP and Italian GP at Le Mans and Mugello respectively.
The Catalan GP, set to be staged on June 6th, follows next ahead of the German and Dutch TT rounds of the championship to complete June running, with the inaugural Finnish GP set to get underway as the last round before the summer break on July 11th, though a further TBD (to be decided) encounter could well be inserted into the gap.
The Austrian GP at the Red Bull Ring gets things underway on the 15th of August before the British round at Silverstone two weeks later, while the Aragon GP swaps places on the schedule with the San Marino event at Misano to get underway on the 12th September a week before the latter.
The first of the late-season flyaways at Motegi in Japan follows next on October 3rd before the Thai contest, while Australia and Malaysia occupy their usual slots on the calendar to complete the season’s non-European events.
Valencia will host its traditional season finale two weeks after the Malaysian GP on November 14th, leaving three reserve events should Covid-19 once again shake up the schedule.
Portimao-which is hosting the ’20 finale-has been pencilled in for an 11th July slot should the Finnish race not go ahead, while MotoGP’s maiden visit to Indonesia is currently marked as TBD subject to the country’s Mandalika street circuit not having been homologated yet.
A first trip to Russia and the nations newly-completed Igora Drive venue also holds a TBD tag, though again a green light for event will not be given unless another drops out.
