The German Grand Prix, the 8th stage of the 2021 MotoGP World Championship, is scheduled for Sachenring on June 20th. By this time, Dorna is expected to reopen borders and remove major restrictions on public events. Which European Grand Prix spectators will be able to watch from the stands this year?
Sachsenring has traditionally been a magnet for motorsport fans. Most of them are Germans, whose motor culture has been inoculated since the 30s of the 20th century, and they are drawn to speed and spectacular races. Sachsenring holds a number of MotoGP attendance records – up to 223,000 per weekend. Now the situation is, of course, completely different. Lockdowns and restrictions in European countries due to Covid-19 again threaten the economy of large public events – festivals, concerts, shows, motorcycle races. In 2020, Germany was unable to host MotoGP due to the fact that without spectators, Sachsenring and the local promoter cannot earn money, and they have to pay a fee for the annual rights to the Grand Prix. They decided to skip the season to return in 2021.
MotoGP boss Carmelo Espeleta MotoGP boss Carmelo Espeleta is confident that this year he will manage to hold 18 stages, despite the high risk of canceling at least four overseas events out of 20 planned earlier. “We still want to host 18 Grand Prix. If it does not work out according to plan, we are ready to carry out some stages in a double format, as in Qatar. But we assess the situation every week and make new plans. In fact, there are many fallbacks – Plan B and Plan C. But the first thing we are striving for is that MotoGP will stop running with empty stands, ”said Espeleta after the presentation of the Spanish Grand Prix and a new contract, according to which Circuito de Jerez will be guaranteed to host the main national MotoGP race until the end of 2026. At the same time, Espeleta had to agree with the arguments of the Governments of Spain and Andalusia: the Spanish Grand Prix on May 1-2, 2021 will again be held behind closed doors. At the same time, Germany continues to cancel the stages of the IDM Superbike national championship, which was supposed to start on May 1-2 in Lausitz and continue on May 7-8 at Sachsenring – due to a lockdown, at least until May 19, any events considered “massive “will be canceled. But then … Which track is guaranteed to be the first to receive spectators?
“I think we can count on Mugello, but the main thing is Sachenring: we have already reached an agreement whereby Germany can open the doors to the audience. I hope to sell at least 10,000 tickets. But maybe there will be even more, ”said Espeleta.