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The final round of the 2020 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship will take place at the Circuito Estoril and it’s time to take a closer look at the Portuguese venue. For the first time in the Championship’s history, there’ll be two races in Portugal, something that is vastly important for the growth in popularity of the Championship inside Portugal. Built in 1972 and hosting F1, MotoGP™ and WorldSBK since, what can we expect ahead of our grand finale at the 4.182km circuit?

The first thing to know is that the World Superbike paddock has visited Estoril before; the first year of racing in the Championship back in 1988. With races won by Davide Tardozzi and Stephane Mertens, it’d be Tardozzi’s last win and Mertens’ first; Race 2 saw the last ever Bimota 1-2 in WorldSBK, as well as Raymond Roche’s first ever fastest lap – will the theme of firsts continue to 2020?

The second year the Championship visited was in 1993, when the track unexpectedly hosted the final round of the season, after the mid-event cancellation of the scheduled final round in Mexico. Race 1 of 1993 saw both Championship contenders – Scott Russell and Carl Fogarty – crash, with one of the closest finishes of the whole year ensuing and victory going to the late Fabrizio Pirovano. Race 2 saw Carl Fogarty dominance with Russell taking second. It would be enough for Russell to take the crown.

Onto the track itself, and it features a variety of long-radius Parabolicas, tight hairpins, slow chicanes, quick kinks and flowing esses. A 986-metre long, 14-metre wide front straight will see some of the fastest top speeds of the year, before the hard-braking zone of Turn 1, a prime overtaking spot. It’s pretty one line through Turn 2 before Turn 3 will welcome overtaking in abundance. It’s a short shoot to Turn 4, again an overtaking place.

Turn 5 is the ferociously fast kink which takes you down to Turn 6 and the Parabolica Interior, another overtaking hotspot but one which is incredibly easy to miss a braking marker and run wide. Over the top of the hill, Turn 7 is another potential passing place before heading round the sweeping Turn 8 and into one of the tightest and slowest chicanes on the calendar – passing is possible but it could cost your exit at Turn 10 and Turn 11.

The final part of the track is one of the best in the world, through the left-hand flick at Turn 12 before the Ayrton Senna Parabolica at Turn 13 will see the bikes loop round and ask for the power, charging down the main straight and completing a lap of the undulating Circuito Estoril. 13 turns consisting of nine right-handers and four left-handers, this circuit is the ultimate final round, with plenty of overtaking spots. Lap times around the 1’36s bracket are to be expected, as Estoril readies for a return to a motorcycle racing World Championship for the first time since 2012.

Don’t forget, you can enjoy the final round of the 2020 season in style with the WorldSBK VideoPass!