Motorsport Roundup: Marc Marquez To Miss Qatar MotoGP, Saudi Arabian GP Circuit Unveiled, 2021 INRC Calendar Revealed And More

With the racing season for plenty of motorsports disciplines set to commence pretty soon, the last seven days saw the last bits of pre-season action take place. It ranged from the unfortunate sidelining of a MotoGP world champion from the season opener, to a new circuit layout being revealed. There was also plenty of news back home on two and four wheeled motorsports  Here’s more about it.

MotoGP

It was already a difficult task to make it to the season opener, and as such, the expected announcement was done. Six-time MotoGP world champion Marc Marquez will sit out the season opening double-headers of the 2021 MotoGP Championship at Qatar on March 28 and April 4. The Spaniard will continue his recovery and will undergo another medical checkup on April 12. This leaves the third round of the season at Portimao in Portugal on April 18 as the earliest possible timeline for his return to the grid.

Formula One

 

With the 2021 season just around the corner the circuit layout for the upcoming Saudi Arabian Grand Prix was revealed. Located in Jeddah, spanning a length of 6.175km and 27 corners, it’ll be the second longest street circuit on the calendar, and one of the fastest too with simulated average speeds exceeding 250kmph. The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix will be the penultimate round of the 23-race season and will take place on December 5.

WEC 

The world of endurance racing saw Alpine unveil the A480 prototype that’ll compete in the Hypercar category of the FIA World Endurance Championship. It’s essentially a rebadged Oreca chassis powered by a 4.5-litre V8 engine supplied by Gibson Technology. The No.36 entry will be piloted by Nicolas Lapierre, André Negrão and Matthieu Vaxiviere. The 2021 season is set to kick off with the prologue at Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium on April 26.

Indian motorsport 

Back home, the 2021 season calendar for the FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship was finally revealed. It is tentatively scheduled for six rounds, with the racing action kicking off at Chennai on April 23-25. Chennai will also double up as one of the three Asian rounds of the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship. Nagaland will make its debut in the INRC as well as host the season finale from November 12-14. There’s also a new SUV class introduced for this upcoming season.

The last seven days also saw Honda commence its 2021 IDEMITSU Honda India Talent Hunt, with the first round in Chennai. The first round saw 14 amataur riders from five cities participate. Post the shortlisting from Level 1, the top riders will be trained and ride on track for the next level of shortlisting. These final shortlisted riders will race against other selected riders in the 2021 Honda India Talent Cup CBR150R category.