Engine and aerodynamics development in the MotoGP class is set to be frozen this week.
Under normal circumstances, engine and aerodynamics development for factories without concessions is only frozen on the Thursday before the first race, but the COVID-19 outbreak means that we are a very long way from anything resembling normal circumstances.
The Circuit Of The Americas has laid off a large part of its staff and is suspending activities indefinitely. In an open-ended and ambiguous statement issued on Sunday night, the circuit stated that with large-scale public events canceled, there was little for the circuit to do.
With both the MotoGP race scheduled for April 5th, and the Indycar round scheduled for April 26th postponed until November, there was little for the circuit to do.
The outbreak of novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, has wreaked havoc on many things: public health, international transport, the global economy, and much more.
But as we are website about motorcycles and motorcycle road racing, we are primarily concerned on the effect it has had on the MotoGP and WorldSBK seasons.
As of Friday, March 13th 2020, Dorna and the FIM had postponed the Buriram, Austin, and Argentina rounds of MotoGP, and the Jerez round of WorldSBK, and were forced to cancel the MotoGP class at the season opener at Qatar.
Things have changed so fast over the past two weeks that it is almost impossible to keep up. As Twitter racing wit SofaRacer put it, “A month ago, the state of Marc Márquez’ shoulder was the big talking point of the season. Halcyon days.”
Since then, a small, contained outbreak of a new flu-like disease has gone from a curiosity in a remote location far from any traditional racetracks to a global pandemic, sweeping through the racing heartlands of Italy and Spain.
The MotoGP calendar has been changed again due to the ongoing outbreak of the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19. This time, it is the Argentina round of the series, due to be held in Termas de Rio Hondo on April 19th, which has been postponed.
The race has now been set for November 22nd, the date Valencia was moved to in yesterday’s updated calendar, with Valencia now slated for November 29th.
The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to be a wrecking ball to the MotoGP calendar, with now the Grand Prix of the Americas being postponed because of health concerns and travel restrictions.
The announcement coming jointly from Dorna, IRTA, and the FIM is not a surprise for those following the space, and just yesterday we speculated about today’s possible news.
With Italy overnight clamping down the entire country, and and cases of the virus continuing to grow in Europe and America, today’s announced postpone seemed all but certain.
The season-opener for the MotoGP Championship is once again under doubt, as question marks over the Americas GP in Austin are beginning to grow.
The concern comes from several factors, including local government moves in Austin that happened last Friday, which saw the Texan city declare a “state of disaster” for the metropolitan area and surrounding county because of concerns regarding the global coronavirus outbreak.
Episode 134 of the Paddock Pass Podcast is out, and this one gives us a recap of what happened at the MotoGP preseason test at Qatar.
On-hand at the test was our man Neil Morrison, and he sits down to talk with David Emmett about the preseason test and what it could mean for the season.
Of note, this episode was recorded before the round at Losail was canceled for the MotoGP riders, so there are some mentions of the race there, which are obviously no longer accurate. Still, the show is packed full of good insights, and we think you will enjoy it.
MotoGP fans who were missing their doses of Lorenzo Land should be happy with this latest announcement from the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP team, as Jorge Lorenzo has been confirmed to race at the Catalan GP.
The Spanish test rider for the Yamaha MotoGP squad will be a wildcard entry for the Catalunya race, an idea that was first floated when Lorenzo signed with the factory outfit last year, thus not making this too big of a surprise.
On Sunday, at 6pm, the desert night will erupt in a cacophony of sound, as Grand Prix motorcycle racing gets underway for the start of the 2020 season.
But it won’t be the vicious bellow of MotoGP machines that will shatter the desert silence; instead, the more modest howl (118 dB compared to 130 dB of the MotoGP bikes) of the Triumph triple-engined Moto2 machines will scream away from the lights and around the floodlit track.
It wasn’t meant to be that way, of course. The Moto2 machines were supposed to race an hour and forty minutes earlier, their original start time planned for 4:20pm local time.
Now, it will be the Moto3 riders starting their race at that time, and not the 3pm slot originally scheduled. The MotoGP machines will be sitting in packing crates, waiting to be shipped to the next race.
As I write this, it is not entirely clear where that will be. It might be Austin, Texas, unless the US authorities impose further restrictions.
It might be Termas De Rio Honda, in Argentina, unless the Argentinian government changes its mind about allowing entry from Italy, or Japan, or anywhere else. It might even be Jerez, if international air travel is subject to sudden and extreme restrictions.
The cancellation of the Qatar MotoGP race and the Thai round of MotoGP in Buriram throws MotoGP’s regular schedule into a bit of disarray. The deadlines under which the MotoGP manufacturers were working have suddenly been opened up again.
Factories without concessions – Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha, and Ducati – were due to homologate their engines this week, ahead of the first race, and all six manufacturers were due to submit their aerodynamics packages for homologation, although aerodynamics packages can vary per rider.
Similarly, teams were due to submit their gearbox ratios ahead of the first race, with a maximum of 24 different gearbox ratios and 4 different final drive ratios allowed during the season.
So now that Qatar and Thailand have been canceled or postponed, what happens next?
It was less than 24 hours ago we reported to you the news that the MotoGP race for the Qatar GP would be canceled because of travel restrictions related to the coronavirus, and that possibly other rounds of the world championship could be affected.
And now, we get word (now confirmed by the FIM) that the Thai GP round at Buriram will be postponed will be postponed as well, with MotoGP hoping to reschedule the round at a future date. Currently, the rumor is for the Thai GP to take place in October, but that has yet to be confirmed by a statement from Dorna.
The move comes from concerns from the Thai government, as Thailand continues to battle with infection not only within its borders, but also within the borders of its surrounding neighbors. Eager to stem-the-tide, a large gathering with possibly infected persons seems like a less-than-optimal idea.