The FIM has released an updated version of the 2011 Superbike World Championship calendar, featuring 13 rounds set to take place at some of the world’s most evocative and iconic racetracks.

The season opener takes place at the incomparable seaside circuit of Phillip Island, one of the fastest and most open circuits in the entire world of racing.

Phillip Island will feature as an official pre-season test venue, shortly before race weekend, on Monday 21 and Tuesday 22. Race day itself will be Sunday, 27 February 2011.

Early springtime at Donington Park will echo the very beginnings of WSBK in 1988, with this brilliant motorcycle racing venue all ready to welcome back WSBK racing after a year’s absence. 27 March will be race day, for the first of two races to be held in the UK next year.

Assen will be contested on 17 April, while the first of three Italian-based WSBK rounds come along at super-fast Monza, on 8 May.

The normal European theatre of operations is left behind for a short period after Monza and the Superbike class alone heads to America and the Miller Motorsports Park this year, for a race on Monday, 30 May on the Memorial Day holiday.

Two race weekends in a row will be enjoyed in June, the first being the San Marino Round at Misano on 12 June and then a new adventure beckons for the full WSBK travelling circus, the debut of the Motorland Aragon Circuit in Spain on 19 June.

The wide corners and chicanes of Brno form round eight on 10 July, before the even faster layout of Silverstone has its latest taste of WSBK action on 31 July.

August is a race-free month for all WSBK classes, with action reconvening at the historic Nürburgring circuit on 4 September.

An intense end to the season sees three European rounds, Imola, Magny Cours and Portimao, all coming along within a four-weekend period.

Imola has been reconfirmed on 25 September, Magny-Cours in France is the penultimate round of the year on 2 October, while instant classic Portimao is again the venue for the final round of the season on 16 October.

Portimao will bracket the WSBK season neatly, as it hosts the first official test of the year, between 26 and 28 January.

Ten rounds remain in the Superstock classes, as there will be no races for those classes in Donington, and their season gets underway at Assen on 17 April.