As we have predicted earlier during our online interview with Petronas SRT Team Principal, Dato’ Razlan Razali, the upcoming MotoGP rounds in Mugello and Catalunya have been postponed due to the growing concerns related to the COVID-19 virus pandemic.
MotoGP confirmed this by publishing the statement on their official website which goes as follows:
Italian and Catalan Grands Prix postponed
The FIM, IRTA and Dorna Sports regret to announce the postponement of the Gran Premio d’Italia Oakley and Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya, which were set to be held at the Autodromo del Mugello from the 29th to the 31st of May and at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya from the 5th to the 7th of June, respectively. The ongoing coronavirus outbreak has obliged the two events to be rescheduled.
As the situation remains in a state of constant evolution, new dates for these Grands Prix, as well as the recently postponed French and Spanish GPs, cannot be confirmed until it becomes clearer when exactly it will be possible to hold the events. A revised calendar will be published as soon as available.
As of now, the folks over at Dorna are cracking their heads on how they can make this work into the 2020 calendar. Trying to fit in all these venues at the end of the year looks like an impossible task as there are already several back-to-back rounds being rescheduled.
Teams and riders are probably voicing the same opinion as the Petronas SRT team principal where they wouldn’t mind if they have to race back-to-back in a very compact calendar which is being discussed to start as late as August.
Dorna is also looking into other possibilities like running two races per weekend like WorldSBK or Ducati’s suggestion of running two race weekends at the same available venue back to back. As of now, the decision is still being considered where even the CEO of Dorna, Carmelo Ezpeleta, voiced his concerns of not even having a 2020 season at all due to COVID-19.
