MotoGP: Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas cancelled

The US round of the 2020 MotoGP championship has been cancelled amid concerns over COVID-19

Marc Marquez, COTA

THE FIM, IRTA and Dorna Sports have announced that the 2020 Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas has been cancelled amid concerns around COVID-19.

The statement said:

‘The FIM, IRTA and Dorna Sports regret to announce the cancellation of the 2020 Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas. Previously postponed, the ongoing coronavirus outbreak and resulting complications now sadly oblige the cancellation of the event to be confirmed.’

Instead, the MotoGP power brokers are eyeing an April 2021 running of the event, which has been a highlight of the calendar since its inauguration in 2013.

The event was slated to take place at the top end of the 2020 MotoGP season, just as the COVID-19 was impacting the schedules of most major sporting events worldwide. Dorna through and the COTA race promoters were keen to try and run the events later in 2020, although this statement has confirmed that will not be the case.

MotoGP has confirmed a European-only 13-round calendar beginning on July 19th in Jerez, a minimum measure to ensure it meets the criteria to be classified as an FIM World Championship. It will then run five events over six weeks, at Jerez and the Red Bull Ring (two each, back-to-back) and one at Brno in the Czech Republic.

Dorna has also kept four provisional overseas events in the USA (now cancelled), Argentina, Thailand and Malaysia to be included in November and December. The final decision on the running of those events is expected this month.