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.
There was a flurry excitement in the MotoGP media after the Chinese round of the F1 series in Shanghai was postponed due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus, as the coronavirus has been officially named.
The excitement concerned the MotoGP race in Thailand, at the Buriram circuit, due to take place on March 22nd. Would the second race of the season be able to go ahead?
The answer to that question is the same now as it was nearly a month ago: yes, the Thai GP in Buriram will go ahead as planned, unless the situation changes, and governments issue official warnings against traveling to Thailand.
After being a tentative “go” for racing last week, the 2015 Bonneville Motorcycle Speed Trials has now been canceled because of conditions on the Bonneville Salt Flats.
The announcement comes after rains in the Salt Lake City, Utah area put water on the salt flat racing course, and now currently half an inch of water sits on what the BMST calls its “Mountain Course” area.
The inaugural round of World Superbikes in India is under serious threat, which leaves Dorna facing severe problems just months after taking over the running of the WSBK series. Bureaucracy, customs formalities, and import bonds threaten to see the race, scheduled to be held on March 10th at the Buddh International Circuit near New Delhi in India, either postponed or called off indefinitely, according to reports over on GPOne.
True to the rumors heard in the MotoGP paddock, the Argentinian GP has been canceled by Dorna. Scheduled as the second round for the 2013 MotoGP Championship, the loss of the round in Argentina means that the season-opener at Qatar has been pushed further back into the year, and is now slated to be held on April 7, 2013.
The Austin GP is now the second round of the series, and will continue to be held on April 21, 2013. The full provisional 2013 MotoGP calendar is after the jump, and now supersedes the previously published provisional calendar. Click here for Dorna’s statement as to why the round was cancelled.
UPDATE: TT organizers have released the schedule for tomorrow, find it added after the jump.
Racing action at the Isle of Man TT was delayed and finally cancelled because of inclement weather today, and as such the second Monster Energy Supersport race, the second Sure Sidecar race, and the TT Zero race have been pushed back to Thursday.
At first the TT was merely postponed because of low-hanging clouds on the course that limited visibility; but as the morning wore on, rain began falling on the Mountain Course, and race officials sacked the days events.
TT Zero and the rest of the races are expected to take place tomorrow, but the Isle of Man has not released the new schedule yet. Check back to this article for an update on race times for Thursday when we get them.