MotoGP expects to deliver full 2020 championship
MotoGP chief Carmelo Ezpeleta says despite the ongoing delays to the 2020 world championship amid the coronavirus crisis plans remain in place to put on a full season.
MotoGP organisers took swift action to cancel the premier class race at the opening round in Qatar due to a travel ban on anyone who had been in Italy over the past 14 days, with Moto2 and Moto3 permitted to race as all teams and riders were already in the country after a pre-season test at the Losail International Circuit.
MotoGP chief Carmelo Ezpeleta says despite the ongoing delays to the 2020 world championship amid the coronavirus crisis plans remain in place to put on a full season.
MotoGP organisers took swift action to cancel the premier class race at the opening round in Qatar due to a travel ban on anyone who had been in Italy over the past 14 days, with Moto2 and Moto3 permitted to race as all teams and riders were already in the country after a pre-season test at the Losail International Circuit.
Since then a series of calendar revisions have seen the Thailand, United States and Argentina rounds all postponed.
As it stands, Jerez is set to host the next MotoGP event with the Spanish Grand Prix taking place on May 1-3 ahead of a 19-round world championship which culminates with eight rounds in the space of 10 weeks finishing in Valencia on November 27-29.
Dorna CEO Ezpeleta acknowledges further calendar changes could be forced by the developing coronavirus situation but still expects to complete a full campaign – even it if means racing until the end of December or beyond.
“Since the coronavirus problem began, we’ve been following the instructions of each government, we have been in close contact with the promoters in Austin and Argentina and when the authorities said it wasn’t possible to do it now, we talked to other Grands Prix to try and accommodate and we were able to. Now the calendar is ok, if everything continues as it is,” Ezpeleta said.
“As I said in the press conference in Qatar, our idea is to continue the Championship with all the races, that’s our aim.
“But if something is unpredictable, we’re following the situations with each government and especially the promoters. We’re in close contact with the FIM, IRTA, the teams, and of course with the promoters. We’re trying to accommodate everything in the moment, in close contact with them.”
Ezpeleta also hopes that once the 2020 MotoGP season gets underway it won’t lose interest and excitement for fans.
“We are expecting a fantastic MotoGP season,” he said. “We think the season will be amazing, and we’re waiting to start it as soon as possible.
“It’s a bit delayed from normal but if we can start on the schedule we have now, it really will be an exciting season.”
At the Qatar round, Ezpeleta confirmed MotoGP must run a minimum of 13 rounds to count as a world championship under FIM rules.
Sepang weighed up the prospect of hosting a second MotoGP round to help fill the calendar void before May but its hopes were ended when Malaysian authorities banned Italian nationals entering the country amid the coronavirus outbreak.
