Another week, another motorcycle race postponed, with no date set for rescheduling. This week it is the turn of the Mugello and Barcelona rounds of MotoGP, scheduled to take place on May 31st and June 7th respectively.
Today, the FIM, IRTA, and Dorna announced that the Italian and Catalunya rounds of MotoGP have been postponed, and no new date has been set for them to take place.
Ever since Valentino Rossi let his leg fly free in the wind, people have been trying to explain the advantages of the “leg dangle” in motorcycle racing.
While many reasons have been offered (some more accurate than others), and while some pundits have certainly painted a good portion of the picture behind this growing technique on the race track, we have never seen someone explain the subject quite as well as Sylvain Guintoli.
The Frenchman posted his explanation in a video to YouTube, and he is not only clear in his explanation, but also exhaustively comprehensive in his analysis on the subject.
Dorna has announced a financial support package for the Grand Prix teams. The independent MotoGP teams are to be given money for the months of April, May, and June, and payments are also to be made to the Moto2 and Moto3 teams.
The COVID-19 outbreak continues to wreak havoc on the 2020 MotoGP calendar. Today, Dorna announced that the French Grand Prix at Le Mans, due to be held on 15th-17th May, has been postponed until further notice.
As happened with Jerez, no new date for Le Mans has been announced. MotoGP, like all other international sports, faces a huge problem in putting together a calendar, in the face of uncertainty over how long restrictions on travel and events will continue.
Episode 138 of the Paddock Pass Podcast is out, and as you might expect from the title of the show, this one is a deep-dive into the career of three-time world champion Freddie Spencer.
To guide us on this trip through motorcycle racing history,, we have Steve English and Neil Morrison on the microphones.
The International Disciplinary Court of the FIM has reached a decision at last. Andrea Iannone has been found guilty of having a banned substance in his bloodstream, and suspended from competition for 18 months.
The ban is backdated to December 17th, 2019, meaning that Iannone will be eligible to compete from June 16th, 2021.
The ban of 18 months is a reduction from the maximum allowed by the rules of 4 years, and an acknowledgement that Iannone did not ingest the banned substance – anabolic steroid drostanolone – with intent.
There is a desire for certainty in these uncertain times. Everyone involved in motorcycle racing is wondering what happens next, and when we will be able to start racing again. News websites are filled with countless interviews, news articles, and opinion pieces full of theories as to what the next race may be.
If there is one person in a position what the race might be, it is Carmelo Ezpeleta, CEO of Dorna, and the man who heads the organization which runs both the MotoGP and WorldSBK championships. Spanish sports daily AS.com spoke to Ezpeleta to find out where motorcycle racing stands in 2020.
No news is good news, at least as far as the current outbreak of COVID-19, or the coronavirus is concerned.
And for thirteen days – nearly two whole weeks – we went without a change to the calendars of either the WorldSBK and MotoGP calendars (ironically, that changed this morning).
Given the speed at which the world has changed over the past two weeks, that is almost an eternity in normal time. The same could not be said for other motorsport disciplines. For two weeks, we have been inundated with cancellations and postponements.
Episode 135 of the Paddock Pass Podcast is out, and as you might expect from the title of the show, this one covers just one single rider: Fabio Quartararo.
In order to deep-dive on the Frenchman, we have Steve English, Neil Morrison, and David Emmett on the microphones.
But, we also have a number of interviews with paddock insiders and those around Quartararo, to help talk about his rise in the grand prix paddock.
With on-track racing a distant prospect for the foreseeable future, Dorna is acting to fill the hole created by the COVID-19 outbreak.
This week, they announced that on Sunday, March 29th, they will be holding a virtual race around Mugello using the official MotoGP video game.
As we reported last night, based on reports by Italian website GPOne.com, engine and aerodynamics development is to be frozen.
But it appears that the story was wrong in at least one respect: engine homologation will not be taken from this week, but be backdated to Qatar.