MotoGP 2020 Schedule Announced

MotoGP is back. On June 11, MotoGP promoter Dorna Sports announced a revised calendar for the 2020 season featuring 13 rounds in Europe, with four overseas races to be confirmed at the end of July. The action will resume July 15 at Jerez for a day of testing, before a full-tilt calendar.

As Dorna boss Carmela Ezpeleta had anticipated to Cycle World, the championship will resume at Jerez in Spain with two back-to-back rounds July 19 and 26. The Czech GP at Brno will be round three on August 9, before back-to-back races in Austria August 16 and 23. Italian Grand Prix at Mugello is canceled, while Misano doubles with two appointments September 13 and 20, the Catalan and French GPs following September 27 and October 11, respectively. Aragón will follow with another double-header a week later on October 18 and 25. The final two rounds will be held at Valencia November 8 and 15 to bring the European calendar to a close—unless the season continues overseas.

The decision regarding the remaining four fly-away races, the United States, Argentina, Thailand, and Malaysian Grands Prix, will be made only at the end of July. Their confirmation is pending to the possibility of opening the doors to the spectators.

“It has been hard work from our side and from the side of the promoters, finally we obtained these possibilities,” Ezpeleta stated. “Once we had the protocol approved, then we were able to propose this calendar. In principle we have some circuits where we will repeat races one week after another, because this is easy for movement and to maintain the protocol. Considering the pandemic, it’s a great result to be able to confirm 13 races, and then if it’s possible to go outside Europe, it will be interesting. The races outside Europe need to be confirmed before the end of July, then also our agreement with the manufacturers and with the teams is to finish the championship no later than the 13th of December.”

The restart phase of the championship will be very different from what we have left. The MotoGP circus will travel isolated as much as possible. As has happened with NASCAR and IndyCar, teams’ movements will be limited to the circuit and the hotel. The protocol is very strict with a maximum of 1,300 people allowed in the paddock.

“The protocol is the hardest one we have,” the Dorna boss reassures. “We’ve presented it to everyone. If the situation improves later, there could be some changes, but always in agreement with the authorities.”

As if in a bubble, the MotoGP paddock will be shielded from the world. No spectators, no guests, and no media will be allowed, but there will be TV production and a minimum number of people from Dorna who are in charge of the race organization. As for the logistics, all personnel will have to be tested for COVID-19 a maximum of four days before the arrival to the circuit.

Looking at the current calendar, eight circuits will host the entire season. If we looked at what happened in 2019 on those racetracks, Marc Márquez won on all these tracks except Spielberg in Austria, where he finished second behind the Ducati rider Andrea Dovizioso. In this case, it could be impossible to beat the Honda rider. Fortunately, the grid this year should be more balanced with a more competitive Yamaha with Maverick Viñales, Fabio Quartararo, and Valentino Rossi, while Dovizioso is on a more powerful Ducati Desmosedici and determined to close the gap.