The impact of the Coronavirus has been felt worldwide with shipping, travel and global sport all feeling the pinch. The latest impact of this has been felt in MotoGP with the announcement of an updated calendar for the 2020 season with Round 2 of the campaign now confirmed as the Grand Prix of the Americas with the Thai Grand Prix moved to October in a calendar reshuffle. 

At the opening round of the championship Carmelo Ezpeleta, the CEO Dorna Sports, spoke about the goal of maintaining the championship and that MotoGP is doing everything possible to make every Grand Prix and 20 race weekends possible. 

“We decided with the Qatar government and circuit officials that we would race with Moto2 and Moto3 in Qatar along with the Asia Talent Cup,” said Ezpeleta. “We discussed different options including a charter flight to bring people to Qatar but the situation in Europe was changing dramatically. We will do everything possible to have races and to work together to try and maintain the championship with the maximum number of races possible.

“The next Grand Prix will be in the United States. We tried to move this race until the end of the year and we tried changing with a Spanish race, but it was impossible for any circuit to try and organise a MotoGP at such short notice. We have changed the date of Thailand because of the help of the Aragon Government to move the Motorland Aragon race. We have a lot of possibilities and are considering everything.

“The main aim of the FIM, IRTA and Dorna is to maintain the championship. We want everyone to not pay attention to rumours because we are working together. With the promoters we know that we need to respect the law and as long as the law does not forbid us going anywhere we will continue. Our aim is to maintain the championship with the maximum number of races.”

Below is a statement from FIM and the updated calendar:

Key changes have been made to the 2020 MotoGP™ calendar including a new date for the OR Thailand Grand Prix and Gran Premio de Aragon