Coronavirus: Qatar World Superbike round postponed

The Qatar World Superbike round has been postponed until further notice amid the coronavirus outbreak.

With travel restrictions enforced arriving into Qatar, organisers have moved to reschedule the World Superbike round which was initially set to take place on March 13-15.

It follows the Qatar MotoGP seeing its premier class race cancelled, which was set to take place this weekend at the Losail International Circuit, with a large section of the top class unable to enter the country unless taken directly to quarantine for a minimum of 14 days.

Qatar is currently enforcing the two-week quarantine process to any travellers who have been in Italy in the past two weeks and with a large Italian contingency making up the WorldSBK paddock organisers have postponed the round for this year.

The full WorldSBK round has been postponed, including support classes, while the Qatar Grand Prix will continue with Moto2 and Moto3 plus support classes this weekend as they are already in the country following last week’s pre-season test.

Organisers will aim to move the Qatar World Superbike round to later in the year, subject to the ongoing coronavirus situation and travel restrictions in the country, with the end of the season already being targeted.

Qatar has hosted the final round of the World Superbike championship since 2014 but for 2020 was moved to become the second round of the season two weeks after the season-opener in Australia.

Argentina’s Circuito San Juan Villicum is currently set to run the final round of the year on October 9-11 but organisers could slot the Qatar round after that date.

With World Superbike currently out of action, Jerez is set to host the next round on March 27-29.