The WorldSBK Championship paddock gears up for three consecutive and decisive weekends as the 2021 title challenges near their conclusion.

This week’s Hyundai N Catalunya Round marks the start of the crucial phase of the 2021 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship campaign, but also a challenge for all competitors: a trio of rounds set over three consecutive weekends.

With little rest, the Superbike, Supersport and 300 class will travel from Barcelona to Jerez to compete in the Motul Spanish Round, from September 24 to 26, before meeting up again five days later for the Portuguese Round, in Portimao, from October 1 to 3.

The three back-to-back rounds is not an unprecedented challenge in the history of the Championship, but it is certainly something very unusual. In fact, only three consecutive World Superbike Rounds have been held on previous occasions - in 1988, 90 and 99 - but none in recent years.

The global COVID-19 pandemic forced the 2021 season to start at a later date, at the end of May, and with a compressed calendar in this phase of the campaign, creating the unusual challenge for all participants. Although in other Championships, such as MotoGP™, triple headers are more common, here the weekend format marks the difference between them, with two races per weekend in World Supersport and WorldSSP300, and three races per Round in WorldSBK. In other words, nine races in 16 days.

Current WorldSBK riders, Alvaro Bautista (Team HRC) and Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati), have both faced three consecutive events during their extensive careers in MotoGP.

“It’s three rounds in a row, but with three races per weekend,” Bautista commented on the situation ahead of him. “It is an important moment because you have to be very focused. In those three weeks, you can hardly relax. Maybe you have a couple of days to de-stress a bit, but then you have to connect again. They are races in which you cannot make any mistakes because a fall or a bad blow can condition the following ones. It is the most important peak of the entire Championship.”

“It is difficult to maintain a margin because when you need to go to the limit, especially if you are fighting for something important in the Championship, it is difficult not to push, but at the same time it would be the worst moment to suffer an injury, so you have to try to be sure to be at your best within the limits,” he reflected on the prospect ahead of title rivals Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) and Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK).

“It is complicated to manage, but you have to find that commitment because perhaps it is more important to score points in all of them than to add a lot in one, but miss out on several.”

Redding is himself still in with a shout of the all-important title. “We will have three rounds in a row,” the Brit said ahead of the Barcelona round “it will not be easy, but it is not the beginning of an era or the end of the world; we are going to compete, to do our job.

“There are three races per weekend, for three weeks in a row… I think it will be important to find a bit of relaxation between rounds!”

Without having gone through the experience, Rea himself has already visualised what awaits him in his busiest month of September and has even drawn up his own plan.

“Mentally, it’s the same,” the defending champion explained. “We will go race by race. Maybe I just get more rest between rounds and have a really easy few days, maybe no training, just relaxing.

“Racing weekends are very tough physically, but also mentally and emotionally. The weekend is difficult, not only because of what is happening on the track but also because of the conversations about the changes in the set-up, the decision-making. All of that takes its toll. I’ll probably go to the beach in Barcelona after the round. Maybe I play a bit of golf in Jerez and Portimao, but in general, it’s about slowing down and relaxing.”

Against the voice of experience, there is nothing like the drive of youth: Manuel Gonzalez (Yamaha ParkinGo Team) faces five events in five weeks at this stage of the year, with the triple-header following the French Round and his appearance in the Moto2 Aragon Grand Prix. Does the number of events worry him? “For me, the more races the better!” he stated excitedly.

“I do not have any mental or physical problems. Maybe if you crash in the first few races, you may have a problem in the following races, but I think I’m ready. I won in France, so I am very confident. We have already achieved the first victory; I hope to win more in the next three races, I think I am really ready.”

The historic roller coaster in the 2021 World Championship starts this week in Barcelona-Catalunya and will be completed on October 3 in Portimao, with a visit to Andalusia’s Jerez sandwiched between the two.