Catalunya says MotoGP round delayed

Catalunya is yet to officially join the list of postponed MotoGP rounds, still holding its original June 5-7 date, but the regional government says the event will be delayed.

Gerard Figueras, Catalunya's Secretary-General for Sport, told lesportiudecatalunya.cat:

"Neither the Spanish F1 GP [already postponed] nor the Catalunya MotoGP will be held on their scheduled dates. As of today, a decision to cancel the two events has not yet been made, but we are waiting [to see] if they can be relocated on the calendar."

Of all the European countries, Spain and Italy have been hit hardest by the coronavirus at present.

The news that Barcelona, originally scheduled as round eight, will be dropping away means it will be an even greater shock if the previous Mugello race (May 31) - now pencilled in as the belated premier-class season opener - goes ahead.

Assuming Mugello and Barcelona are called off, the opening round would be pushed back to Sachsenring on June 21. But Germany has now joined Spain and Italy in recording over 100,000 coronavirus cases…

Assen (The Netherlands) and KymiRing (Finland) are the only other events before the 'summer break'.

After finding alternative dates for Buriram, COTA and Termas - thus maintaining its plan to hold all 19 remaining rounds after Qatar - MotoGP has changed tact, simply announcing Jerez and Le Mans as postponed, with no new date decided until the start of racing becomes clearer.

With each day that passes, event cancellations and a much shorter 2020 season are more likely. Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta recently explained that racing won't take place too deep in the winter to avoid spoiling the 2021 calendar.

Jorge Lorenzo is due to make his Yamaha MotoGP return as a wild-card at the Catalunya round.