Maverick Viñales has elected not to race at the US round of MotoGP at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin.
The Spaniard has decided to take the time to come to terms with the death of his cousin, Dean Berta Viñales, as a result of a crash in the WorldSSP300 race at Jerez on Saturday.
Dean Berta Viñales rode in the team run by Maverick’s father, Angel, and which carries Maverick’s logo.
There has been yet another change to the MotoGP calendar for 2021. As had been expected, the Malaysian Grand Prix scheduled for October 24th at the Sepang International Circuit has been canceled.
In its place will be an extra race at the Misano circuit in Italy. Misano will be the second circuit, after Portimão, which will host two races this year, but not back to back.
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to remind us that it is a global, not a local, phenomenon.
As cases continue to rise in Thailand, and the vaccination program there is only being rolled out slowly, the organizers of the Thai GP have been forced to cancel the 2021 MotoGP round at Buriram.
Austin is back on the MotoGP calendar. Today, the FIM announced that the Motegi round of MotoGP has been canceled, as travel to Japan is still very difficult, with the Circuit of the Americas being put in its place on October 3rd.
The changes have obviously been made in response to the pandemic, and as COVID-19 continues to be a problem around the world, more changes are likely.
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to disrupt the MotoGP calendar. The second and third rounds of MotoGP, at Termas de Rio Hondo in Argentina on April 11th and at the Circuit Of The Americas on April 18th have been officially postponed.
In their place, Qatar will host back-to-back races at the Losail International Circuit on March 28th and April 4th, and reserve circuit Autódromo do Algarve at Portimao will host a race on April 18th.
Though officially only postoponed, the Argentina and Austin rounds are almost certain to be canceled, a move which had long been expected.
The Grand Prix of the Americas, which had been moved to November 13-15th because of the coronavirus outbreak, has now been canceled.
The news comes from the track’s Instagram account, which states that the Austin round will return in 2021, on April 16-18th.
The cancelation of this year’s American round is of little surprise, as the COVID-19 situation in the United States grows more dire with each passing day, especially in Texas.
Ever since the opening round at Qatar, the schedule for the 2020 MotoGP Championship has been in limbo. And for American fans, this hasn meant a tremendous amount of uncertainty regarding the grand prix round held outside of Austin, Texas.
Though we are seemingly no closer to knowing if and when the Americas GP will take place, American fans have now been at least provided a timeline on when we will know: the end of July.
The Circuit Of The Americas has laid off a large part of its staff and is suspending activities indefinitely. In an open-ended and ambiguous statement issued on Sunday night, the circuit stated that with large-scale public events canceled, there was little for the circuit to do.
With both the MotoGP race scheduled for April 5th, and the Indycar round scheduled for April 26th postponed until November, there was little for the circuit to do.
The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to be a wrecking ball to the MotoGP calendar, with now the Grand Prix of the Americas being postponed because of health concerns and travel restrictions.
The announcement coming jointly from Dorna, IRTA, and the FIM is not a surprise for those following the space, and just yesterday we speculated about today’s possible news.
With Italy overnight clamping down the entire country, and and cases of the virus continuing to grow in Europe and America, today’s announced postpone seemed all but certain.
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.
Episode 13 of the Brap Talk podcast is now out for your two-wheeled audio pleasure, and it comes to you right after the Grand Prix of the Americas in Austin, Texas.
Shahin and I greatly enjoyed seeing and talking to so many fans of the podcast at the MotoGP race, Handbuilt Motorcycle Show, and the general Austin city limits. It really means a lot to us that you all enjoy the show so much.
As such, this show discusses the weekend for us, in particular what happened on and off the track. We gush about the MotoGP race, debate the bikes seen at the show, and generally plan where our next calories are going to come from.