The final round of the 2023 Superbike World Championship at the San Juan Filicom Circuit in Argentina is in danger of being cancelled. The event, scheduled for the weekend of October 13-15, will almost certainly be moved to Circuito de Jerez-Angel Nieto in southern Spain.
The rumors have been around for some time, but WorldSBK told teams on Friday during the first day of Italy’s Prometeon Tour that they would clarify if the final round of the season takes place in Argentina this weekend. Dorna Sport, the promoter of WorldSBK, has announced that the number of racing weekends will remain the same anyway and that they already have a contingency plan in place in case the Argentine circuit has to disappear from the calendar in 2023.
While it seems only a matter of time before the news is officially out, it is already clear to many team bosses that they could cancel the trip to Argentina. The reason for the cancellation has to do with the current economic situation in the South American country. In Argentina, the economic crisis has hit hard, so the government is cutting back on investments that are not immediately necessary. With the circuit in San Juan, a city 900km from Buenos Aires, dependent heavily if not entirely on government funds to stage the event, the chance of it being staged this year appears to be non-existent.
But whatever happens, the 2023 calendar will continue to consist of 12 racing weekends. In fact, the Jerez circuit, missing from the calendar this season, is happy to welcome the FIM Superbike Championship the same weekend and already seems ready to take over the staging of the final round of the production-based world championship.
For many teams, especially small private teams, this will be a sigh of relief as this will be a huge cost saving in terms of travel and accommodation. Not only because Spain is a bit farther away from Argentina for many teams and drivers, but especially because the tenth and eleventh rounds of the season take place in Aragon (September 22-24) and Portimao (September 30-October 1), respectively. The drive from Portimão to Jerez is just over 200km, which many captains like when it comes to travel costs.
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