In a year that has featured cancellation after cancellation across the world of professional sports, MotoGP received more bad news this week, as the Japanese MotoGP round, set for October 18 at Motegi, has been canceled because of concerns surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. It is difficult to plan for sports that have the sort of logistics and travel needs that auto and motorcycle racing bring. This will be the first time that MotoGP has not come to Japan since 1986, and it looks like the MotoGP season will all be contested in Europe, starting in July and ending in the middle of November. For those of you who want to include MotoGP in your sports betting, check out the latest news about when the sport could restart and some MotoGP Odds.
MotoGP News: COVID-19 Status & Return Date
Both MotoGP and World Superbike are looking to start their 2020 seasons at Cadiz in Spain. MotoGP is looking to start between July 24 and 26, and World Superbike is looking to start the next weekend. Regional leaders are looking forward to the resumption of the sport, as the MotoGP weekend alone generally brings in around 34 million euros of tourist revenue.
This time around, the paddock area will be restricted to just team members, press and other race personnel, with fans kept back and with protocols in place for social distancing and the wearing of masks. MotoGP has not yet had any races, while the Moto2 and Moto3 races held one race each back in Qatar just before the pandemic shut down motorcycle racing.
Another casualty of the pandemic has been the chance for Jorge Lorenzo to return to MotoGP in 2020. One change has been the elimination of wild card riders; a regulation prohibits teams from running anyone other than their two nominated riders for each race. In years past, teams had been allowed to enter a third bike, but to help keep attendance numbers low, the circuit is limiting teams to just two bikes apiece. Lorenzo had planned to come back as a Yamaha development rider. He has won the circuit three times but had retired from racing at the end of the campaign. However, he had rejoined Yamaha, which had entered him along with Maverick Vinales and Valentino Rossi. This would have been his first Yamaha race since the 2016 MotoGP in Valencia — which he won.
This also means that other riders looking to come in on wild cards, such as Michele Pirro for Ducati, Stefan Bradl for Honda and Sylvain Guintoli for Suzuki, will have to wait until 2021. Lorenzo Savadori had signed a test rider contract with Aprilia and was anticipating his MotoGP debut, but that will also have to wait.
Some riders are already returning to training. Valentino Rossi and other national riders in Italy are allowed to take place in practice sessions at the Misano circuit. Red Bull Ring had run a test day earlier in May, but then Rossi would have had to go through a 14-day quarantine after returning from Austria, so he demurred and chose to wait for this race. Rossi’s training days are being kept secret in order to keep fans from crowding the area.
