Peter Hickman isn’t going to miss out on a guest appearance at the ESR in Chimay

In 1926, a racing event was held for the first time to the north-west of the Belgian town of Chimay. Originally, the length of this ultra-fast street circuit in the Hainaut region was 10.870 kilometres. The layout has since been modified several times. For some years now, the circuit – shortened to 4.420 kilometres – has been made less demanding by the addition of four chicanes.

The ‘Grand Prix des Frontières’ – long one of the most important motorsport events in Belgium – featured both car and motorbike races. The list of winners includes the names of solo world champions Giacomo Agostini, Johnny Cecotto, Barry Sheene, Kork Ballington, Jon Ekerold and Dieter Braun, as well as sidecar champions Werner Schwärzel, Rolf Biland, Egbert Streuer and Steve Webster.

Since 2010, the International Road Racing Championship (IRRC) has been held here, and this year the European Series Road Racing (ESR) – newly created for the Superbike class – will also take place. Ironically, to mark the 100th anniversary, fans will be able to admire the large-capacity motorbikes at the Circuit de Chimay for the very last time, after which this category will disappear from the racing calendar.

To mark the swansong of the Superbikes, a large proportion of the road racing elite will gather once more on 25 and 26 July. Alongside the regular ESR riders – including Fedrik Matthys, Laurent Hoffmann, Anssi Koski and Rasmus Lindström – with Olivier Lupberger, currently sixth in the championship, forced to miss the event due to injury – Lukas Maurer, Paul Manx, Christoph Keller and Florian Astner have also entered the races.

Surprisingly, Peter Hickman will also be on the starting grid this weekend as a newcomer. The 14-time Tourist Trophy winner is determined not to miss the chance to ride a 1000cc motorbike on the historic circuit one last time, and is even prioritising this event in Belgium over the Armoy Road Races in Northern Ireland for that very reason.

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