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The Superbike is on its way to Donington, but the biggest challenge seems to be the one they encountered at the Port of Calais, which is the last customs point before reaching the UK.
Before leaving for England that, as we all know, is not part of European Union, all teams must fill out the ATA Carnet, which is the Passport of Goods in which everything a team transports is listed.
The Carnet ATA is a customs document, issued by the Chamber of Commerce, which is supposed to simplify the temporary import and export of goods.
Until a few months ago, the stamp on the ATA Carnet for the UK was the responsibiliy of the last customs point, namely, Calais. But, a few months ago, the regulations changed, first because of Brexit and then because of increased flows.
In order to export goods to the UK, the customs in Calais no longer applies any stamp, because this is now the responsibility of the customs point of the country from where the goods depart. And that's not all. Calais also denied stamps to all goods coming from the European Community, and this created a lot of confusion.
Once the Superbike paddock arrived in Calais, they made a bitter discovery. Many teams had been stationary for days, others had to return to Italy to get the stamp at Italian Customs, and still others had no choice but to give up transporting their goods.
That's what happened with the Puccetti team, as Manuel himself told us. They won't be able to take their hospitality to Donington because of the very long trip the riders would have to endure, that is, leave Calais to return to Italy to stamp the documents, return to Calais, then reach the United Kingdom.
The Go Eleven team was also stopped a few days at customs, but the Ramello family managed to solve the problem because Elia Ramello (son of the team's owner) and his mom, Luciana, left from Cuneo (on the border) to go to meet their team and resolve the paperwork problem, traveling almost 1,000 km.
Many hospitalities and paddock shows are still stuck at the port of Calais.
We'll just have to wait and see how all this plays out.
