The 2020 MotoGP season opener at the Losail International Circuit, Qatar has been cancelled over the Coronavirus outbreak. Organisers including FIM, IRTA and Dorna have announced that the MotoGP class of the Qatar Grand Prix has been cancelled including the race on Sunday. However, the Moto2 and Moto3 class races will continue as planned considering the riders and teams were already in the country for the three-day official test. The cancellation comes as a result of travel restrictions imposed by Qatar that affect passengers from Italy, among other countries. The Qatar GP is scheduled for next week between March 6-8, 2020.
Passengers arriving at Doha on direct flights from Italy, or those who have been in Italy in the past two weeks, will be taken to quarantine for a minimum of 14 days. The Qatar GP is the first race of the season and this certainly isn’t a good start for the year. The cancellation was forced considering the important role people of Italy play both on the track and off it.
Meanwhile, both Moto2 and Moto3 will compete in the opening round as scheduled, while the Idemitsu Asia Talent Cup will also have its two races during the Qatar Grand Prix, as originally planned. The organisers will be announcing the revised schedule soon.
It’s not clear at the moment if the Thailand GP scheduled March 20-22, 2020. We do expect to hear about the same closer to the event, depending on the global situation over the Coronavirus outbreak. Meanwhile, Formula 1 too is likely to cancel the Shanghai round of the 2020 season due to the Coronavirus. The orgaanisers are yet to confirm the same.
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