The track in Monza, Italy, is the oldest permanent race circuit in Europe. But the original oval race track that was built in the 1920’s has seen a lot of changes over the year. This year, Monza further modifies its track as a safety precaution to this weekends World Superbike race. The change is small, but important, and will shorten the track by 16 meters. Even with the shortened track, the Monza circuit is still one of the longest international racing tracks in the world at 5.777 kilometers. The big change to the Monza track will come at the first chicane, the Prima Variante, where the turn was eased to avoid bottlenecking.
The first chicane is now faster, and will flow easier, especially during the opening rounds. The WSBK riders are expected to carry considerably faster times throughout the weekend at Monza.
The Monza track has been part of the WSBK for over 18 seasons. It saw its first WSBK race in 1990 when the circuit was 5.8 kilometers. In 1996, the circuit was shortened to 5.77 km, then in 2001 it was expanded to 5.79km. It stayed that way until this year, when the Prima Variante chicane was streamlined.
