MotoGP 2020: Season-opening Qatar, Thailand races called off after coronavirus outbreak forces restrictions on travel from Italy

London: The season-opening MotoGP races in Qatar and Thailand have been cancelled because of travel restrictions on passengers from Italy and elsewhere due to the coronavirus epidemic. [caption id=“attachment_7143201” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters[/caption] The floodlit night race in Qatar was scheduled for the Losail circuit on 8 March. The joint statement by MotoGP, the governing FIM and teams’ association IRTA said that as of Sunday all passengers arriving in Doha on direct flights from Italy, or who had been in Italy in the past two weeks, faced a minimum of 14 days in quarantine. “Italy clearly plays a vital role in the championship and in the MotoGP class — both on track and off — and therefore the decision has been taken to cancel premier class competition,” it said. The Moto2 and Moto3 categories will still race due to those teams and riders already being in Qatar for three days of testing last week. Ducati and Aprilia are Italy-based teams while Italian riders include Yamaha’s MotoGP great Valentino Rossi. The 22-strong grid features six Italian riders, with Italian engineers and mechanics spread across the paddock and a large media contingent in attendance. Italian Andrea Dovizioso won last year’s Qatar Grand Prix for Ducati. The death toll from an outbreak of coronavirus in Italy has risen to 34, the Civil Protection Agency said on Sunday, with the cumulative number of confirmed cases totalling some 1,694 in the worst such contagion in Europe. Thailand called off The second MotoGP race of the season, scheduled for Thailand on 22 March was also postponed indefinitely due to the coronavirus epidemic. “The Thai government has communicated that it won’t be possible to hold the Thailand Grand Prix on its original date,” MotoGP said in a statement here with governing body FIM and teams’ association IRTA. An alternative date would be considered this season, it added in the statement. Thai Deputy Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, who is also health minister and chairman of the event’s organising committee, had announced the cancellation earlier. Thailand has reported 43 cases since January and recorded its first fatality on Sunday. The MotoGP championship now moves to the United States with next month’s Grand Prix of the Americas in Austin, Texas. Formula One, whose season starts in Australia on 15 March, has already cancelled its Chinese Grand Prix scheduled for Shanghai on 19 April.