MotoGP Cancellation:
How It All Went Down
A
new decade usually ushers in
change, but who could have
envisioned this? As it stands,
Austin's Circuit of the Americas
could witness the commence-
ment of the 2020 MotoGP
season after the premier race in
Qatar, scheduled for last week-
end, was canceled and the sec-
ond round in Thailand postponed
due to the ongoing Coronavirus
Covid-19 outbreak.
The news came just seven
days before the premier class
was set to get underway at Qatar.
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 a week earlier.
"All passengers arriving at
Doha on direct flights from Italy,
or having been in Italy in the past
two 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
MotoGP teams to operate with a
high numbers of riders, techni-
cians 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).
It has been confirmed the
Thai Grand Prix, scheduled from
March 20-22 has been post-
poned until further notice. Series
organizer Dorna is hopeful of
rescheduling the event in Sep-
tember.
In MotoGP circles the news
was inevitable. Teams like Ecstar
Suzuki had asked some of its
Japanese and Italian mem-
bers to stay in Qatar after the
preseason's final MotoGP test
concluded there for fear they
wouldn't be allowed back in.
Team boss Davide Brivio said
the decision to cancel the first
MotoGP race was "a shame" as
his squad was "all really ready to
start.
"Some of our team staff stayed
in Qatar following the test days,
IN
THE
WIND
P54
Since the Moto2 and 3 teams were already
packed and ready to go, they got to race while
the MotoGP teams watched from home, victims
of the Coronavirus scare. PHOTO: GOLD & GOOSE
