MotoGP: GPs of Germany, the Netherlands and Finland canceled - France 24

Paris (AFP)

The German, Dutch and Finnish Motorcycle Grand Prix, scheduled for June and July, are canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, the International Motorcycling Federation (FIM) and the promoter of MotoGP, Dorna announced on Wednesday. Sports.

"It is with great sadness that we announce the cancellation of these three important Grands Prix of the MotoGP calendar", as well as the support races (in particular the MotoE) which were to accompany them, regrets the CEO of Dorna, Carmelo Ezpeleta, in a press release.

The German GP was scheduled from June 19 to 21 at Sachsenring and that of the Netherlands from June 26 to 28 in Assen, the only circuit to have hosted a motorcycle GP every year since the start of the championship in 1949. That of Finland was to run for the first time at the brand new KymiRing from 10 to 12 July.

But these three countries ban gatherings to fight the spread of the new coronavirus.

Previously, the first eight rounds of the 2020 season had already been canceled (Qatar in the MotoGP category only) or postponed (Thailand, Americas, Argentina, Spain, France, Italy, Catalonia).

The next race on the calendar is the Czech GP at the Brno circuit on August 9, but Ezpeleta raised the possibility of "trying to start at the end of July" in Europe, in an interview with the TV channel BT Sport posted on social media on Monday.

The leader also believed that "the most likely scenario is that it is without spectators", "the most important (being) to organize races and broadcast them on television".

"We are working with the teams to establish a maximum number of people on the paddock, around 1,300, in order to be able to control and test exhaustively," he said.

The French GP, which should have taken place from May 15 to 17 at Le Mans, "hopes to be able to make an announcement on May 15" on a possible postponement, taking into account the modalities of deconfinement in the country as well as the constraints winning the championship organizers, the FIM and Dorna, a spokesman for AFP said Wednesday.

© 2020 AFP