Thailand will become the 24th country to host a round of the Superbike World Championship after it was confirmed on the 2015 calendar today. The Chang International Circuit in Buriram will stage the second race weekend of the season with fourteen venues making up next year’s schedule.
The traditional curtain raiser in Phillip Island is pencilled in for February 22nd with Thailand following a month later before the championship’s first foray into Europe on April 12th at Motorland Aragon, the first Spanish round running back-to-back with Assen.
Imola hosts round five on May 10th with the sole British round following two weeks later at Donington Park. The Portimao circuit will mark the midway point in the championship on June 7th, assuming its contract is confirmed, while the return of the Moscow Raceway will follow Misano in early July as long as its contractual situation is also resolved.
The annual July visit to Laguna Seca remains on the calendar with Sepang shuffling back a couple of months, meaning the World Superbike riders will be put the test in the Malaysian heat on August 2nd. They will at least have plenty of time to recover with a seven week summer break coming afterwards.
The series will reconvene at Jerez on September 20th with the French fans hopeful that reigning champion Sylvain Guintoli will still be in a position to defend his crown come Magny Cours on October 4th. If, like last year, the championship goes down to the wire, all will be decided under the floodlights in Qatar on October 18th.
Despite being hopeful of a return to the calendar after a year away to carry out safety improvements, there is no place for Monza while the Phakisa Raceway in Welkom, South Africa is also missing after its 2014 round was cancelled due to problems with funding.
| 2015 eni SUPERBIKE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP – PROVISIONAL CALENDAR | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 & 2 |  Australia |
Phillip Island | SBK | WSS | 22nd February | ||
| 3 & 4 |  Thailand |
Chang | SBK | WSS | 22nd March | ||
| 5 & 6 |  Spain |
Motorland Aragon | SBK | WSS | STK 1000 | STK 600 | 12th April |
| 7 & 8 |  Netherlands |
TT Circuit Assen | SBK | WSS | STK 1000 | STK 600 | 19th April |
| 9 & 10 |  Italy |
Imola | SBK | WSS | STK 1000 | STK 600 | 10th May |
| 11 & 12 |  United Kingdom |
Donington Park | SBK | WSS | STK 1000 | 24th May | |
| 13 & 14 |  Portugal |
Algarve (STC) | SBK | WSS | STK 1000 | STK 600 | 7th June |
| 15 & 16 | Italy |
Misano | SBK | WSS | STK 1000 | STK 600 | 21st June |
| 17 & 18 |  Russia |
Moscow Raceway (STC) | SBK | WSS | 5th July | ||
| 19 & 20 |  USA |
Laguna Seca | SBK | 19th July | |||
| 21 & 22 |  Malaysia |
Sepang | SBK | WSS | 2nd August | ||
| 23 & 24 | Spain |
Jerez | SBK | WSS | STK 1000 | STK 600 | 20th September |
| 25 & 26 |  France |
Magny Cours | SBK | WSS | STK 1000 | STK 600 | 4th October |
| 27 & 28 |  Qatar |
Losail (STC) | SBK | WSS | 18th October | ||
| (STC) – SUBJECT TO CONTRACT | |||||||
