WorldSBK series director strives for fairer race schedule in 2025.
After a wild weekend of WorldSBK racing at Assen there will be a calm in race action from now until the middle of June, as the series takes nearly two months off. The 2024 Worldsbk calendar has been the subject of much discussion for some time, but with such a long break scheduled for so early in the season, some updating and explaining may be required.
WorldSBK lost two of its long-haul rounds last season, Indonesia and Argentina, and lost them by surprise. They were also scheduled events for this year, and as it transpired, replacing two flyaway rounds proved impossible. Not the fault of WorldSBK, in fairness, and just asking racetracks to host a WorldSBK race – and to pay for the privilege – is not an easy task.
WorldSBK lost the Indonesian round in 2024
Another European round
While Cremona, Italy, and Balatonring, Hungary, have been added to the 2024 calendar, the latter looks shaky, so the series is probably hunting for another European round right now. That should work out okay, but as it stands we need to watch this space to be sure.
Speaking to WorldSBK Championship Director Gregorio Lavilla at Assen, it is clear he is spending a lot of this year making sure that next year’s calendar is more balanced and fan-friendly than the current one.
“I can tell you that I am working flat-out to repair the situation,” Lavilla said on Saturday morning during FP3. “I’m doing more visits than ever to tracks. I have much more planned. Then it’s like I always say… this is like a marriage. For a marriage, you need two persons to want each other. Unfortunately, sometimes especially when we talk about overseas, there are a lot of things to consider.”
WorldSBK Championship Director Gregorio Lavilla
Weighing up finances
With overseas rounds costing everybody a lot of money, and fewer and fewer to choose from it seems, maybe there needs to be some kind of new way of at least part funding overseas races in particular.
“Analysing the situation, we should change the approach to how we express or expose this to our partners and maybe to really understand what’s the situation we are facing, and how altogether we maybe need to find the solution. If it’s of the common interest of all the parts, then all the parts need to put their own piece of effort to make it happen. So I’m just in the process of first seeking the viability, the possibility, making a deep analysis and soon we will try to see the reality of all these projects and then evaluate.”
No lack of effort it seems, but also, no guarantees and nothing new signed yet.
“No, I don’t have anything signed,” confirmed Lavilla. “I’m working on it. It’s not easy. I am making my efforts alone, and that’s not easy, but I will try. If not, that will be the reality.”
The round in Argentina was a surprise loss in 2044
And the Liberty takeover?
So far no contact with WorldSBK it seems, but as the existing public pronouncements have said, things should continue as they are with Dorna still running their side of things across all its championships, but with new owners up top. Only time and a final approval of the takeover in the first place will tell what happens in the near and mid-term future.
WORDS: GORDON RITCHIE. PHOTOS GOLD&GOOSE