Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1217238
MotoGP Class Canceled for Qatar Grand Prix, Austin to Kick Off MotoGP 2020? A new decade usually ushers in change, but who could have envisioned this? As it stands, Austin's Circuit of the Americas will witness the commencement of the 2020 MotoGP season after the premier class race in Qatar, scheduled for this week- end, March 8, was canceled and the second round in Thailand postponed due to the ongoing Coronavirus Covid-19 outbreak. The news came just seven days before the 71st running of motorcycle racing's premier class was set to get underway. Increased travel restrictions on passengers arriving from Italy imposed by the Qatari govern- ment were reason enough for MotoGP's cancellation. The Gulf state confirmed the first known case of the virus within its bor- ders on Saturday. "As of [Sunday], all passengers arriving at Doha on direct flights from Italy, or having been in Italy in the past 2 weeks, will be taken straight to quarantine for a minimum of 14 days," an official statement read. Such restrictions would have made it impossible for many premier class teams to operate with high numbers of riders, technicians and team personnel hailing from Italy, a country with an excess of 1700 reported cases of the virus (only China and South Korea have more). The first grand prix hasn't been completely axed, however. The Moto2 and Moto3 races will go ahead as planned as its teams were al- ready present in Qatar for the IRTA test held last weekend. Thus the junior classes will begin free practice on Friday, March 6, and race on Sunday, March 8, as planned. While the test went ahead, ten- sions were fraught throughout. Multiple grand prix victor Ro- mano Fenati showed symptoms associated with Covid-19 upon arrival last Friday for example, only to be cleared by local medi- cal authorities soon after. The activity didn't end there. On Monday, it was confirmed the Thai Grand Prix, scheduled from March 20-22 has been post- poned until further notice. Of- ficials from the South East Asian country that had 43 reported cases at the time of publication communicated it would be impos- sible to hold the event on those dates. Series organizer Dorna is hopeful of rescheduling the event in September. In MotoGP circles the news was inevitable. Teams like Ecstar Suzuki had asked some of its Japanese and Italian members to stay in Qatar after the pre- season's final MotoGP test con- cluded there for fear they would not be allowed back in. Team boss Davide Brivio said the deci- sion to cancel the first MotoGP race was "a shame" as his squad was "all really ready to start. IN THE WIND P28