Sit tight, folks. The MotoGP 2020 season might be going for a long holiday as rumours have indicated that it’ll only restart as late as August. Putting everything into consideration related to the COVID-19 global pandemic, the next few rounds are all located in countries where the Coronavirus outbreak is currently on a high.
Members of the media were given the opportunity to join an online interview session with the Team Principal of Petronas Sepang Racing Team (SRT), Dato’ Razlan Razali. A lot of questions were asked regarding the state of this season but one of the most interesting things that were discussed is the possibility of the season restarting as early as August. Or no 2020 season at all.
According to Dato’ Razlan Razali, “They (DORNA, IRTA & teams) are talking to restart the championship as late as August. From August to November, they will try not to continue all into the middle of December. We’re looking at between 10-15 races, that’s what is being discussed. At the moment, they will not discount the fact that it can a two-races per weekend concept like WorldSBK. But it’s going to be a crazy calendar from August until the first week of December.”
With the French round confirmed to be postponed, the next few rounds are also in jeopardy as it involves Mugello, Catalunya, and Sachsenring (May & June) where the numbers of infected cases in these countries are rising to worrying levels. Travel restrictions are also a key determining factor related to the possibility of the first MotoGP race happening in August and no earlier.
If this is all finalized, the MotoGP 2020 season will probably be one of the craziest in terms of calendars, but when this question was presented to the Petronas SRT’s Team Principal, his answer was simple, direct, and very much understandable. “We don’t mind, we just want to race!”
