How COVID-19 Has Created The Craziest International Motorsport Calendar In Decades

The coronavirus pandemic resulted in many public events including motorsport events either being cancelled or postponed. This led to scenarios where for some championships, an ongoing season was put on hold or not starting at all. But now, with lockdown restrictions starting to ease up, revised calendars are starting to crop up. But since a major time frame for 2020 has been lost, organisers face a new challenge to try and recover as many events as possible in a limited timeframe for the rest of the year. This has led to revised calendars that are interesting and crazy at the same time. Here’s a closer look at what kind of crazy things the revised 2020 racing calendar, or more accurately the COVID calendar, has to offer.

Regular Calendar

The FIA World Endurance Championship was already mid-way through five rounds of its 2019-2020 season before the coronavirus pandemic put a hold to proceedings. But now it is set to resume racing action at the 6hrs of Spa-Francorchamps on August 15, 2020. Next up will be the 24hrs of LeMans on September 19-20, with the season concluding in Bahrain on November 21. This revised calendar is one of the rare occasions where there’s some normality with no crazy schedule. 

Double-Headers At The Same Venue

Both the revised Formula One and MotoGP calendars are filled with back to back races that will take place at the same venue. The former will have double headers in Austria and Silverstone, whereas the latter will have double headers in Jerez, Austria, Misano, Aragon and Valencia. It is yet to be known if there will be changes to the circuit layout in the second race but those are being considered. There’s also talk of reverse grids in the second race to spice things up.

Races At Different Circuits In The Same Country

With the dangers of the coronavirus pandemic far from over, there are still travel restrictions in certain countries which prevent events from taking place. Thus a lot of races in these revised calendars are taking place in Europe. More specifically, at different circuits in the same country. MotoGP’s revised calendar is majorly Spanish based, with races in Jerez, Catalunya, Aragon and Valencia making up 7 out of 13 tentative races on the calendar. On the plus side, this is opening up opportunities to potentially head to venues of the past. For example, there is potential that F1 may consider places like Mugello, Imola, Hockenheim and Portimao to add races to its revised calendar.

Six Consecutive Races 

If you thought having two consecutive races at the same venue was crazy enough, well, Formula E has something to say about that. Six consecutive races... Yes, you heard that right. Formula-E will be hosting six consecutive races at the Tempelhof Airport in Berlin to finish off the 2019-2020 season. Formula-E was already mid-way through the season with five rounds completed when the coronavirus pandemic put a halt to the season. The season resumes on August 6, with the finale occuring on August 13. Those worried about having the same track layout for six consecutive races can take comfort knowing that Formula-E races in street circuits. So there is flexibility for track layouts to change for every race.

Expect more races to be added onto the above calendars as well as more revised calendars from other motorsport disciplines. And by the looks of it, we’re set to experience an action packed latter half of 2020.