Update: MotoGP 2021 season starts with Doha double header
Updated 18:00 Friday 22nd January. Updates from the FIM, IRTA and Dorna Sports have revealed that Losail International Circuit will now host a double header to kick off the 2021 MotoGP season, retaining the planned Qatar Grand Prix on the 26th-28th of March, following it up with the Grand Prix of Doha, from the 2nd-4th of April.
Instead of the planned Argentinian and American GPs, which have been postponed until the end of the year, the action will then head to Europe, with Portugal’s Autodromo Internacional do Algarve welcoming riders from the 16th-18th of April for the third round of the year. The season will then get back on track (excuse the pun) at the Circuito de Jerez-Angel Nieto, before making its way through Europe’s finest race circuits – France, Italy, Catalunya, Germany, Netherlands, Finland (subject to homologation), Austria, Great Britain, Aragon and San Marino.
October and November are reserved for the flyaway races, with the Twin Ring Motegi hosting the Japanese GP on the third of the month, followed by Thailand, Australia and Malaysia.
While Valencia was due to hold the season finale from the 12th-14th November, expect to see the season drag out beyond this, as with the 2020 edition. Hopefully by then the Americas will be in a better place to host their respective GPs, however Indonesia’s Mandalika International Street Circuit has been designated a reserve venue, subject to homologation.