MotoGP Qatar and Thailand Races Cancelled Due to Coronavirus

The opening round of the MotoGP World Championship in Qatar from March 6 to 8 will feature only Moto2 and Moto3 races as the restriction of travel to the West Asian country from Italy and Japan led to the cancellation of the Premier Class race. The entire Thailand Grand Prix, which was to be held from March 20 to 22 has been cancelled as per a statement by the country's health minister. The event has been postponed indefinitely.

The Moto2 and Moto3 field was already present at the Losail Circuit for pre-season testing near the Qatari capital of Doha when the travel restrictions were put in place. But the MotoGP squads had completed their testing at the venue by February 24 and had left the country.

MotoGP joins Formula 1 as a major global motorsport event that has been affected by the spread of Coronavirus, which has now claimed 3,000 lives across the nearly 70 countries and the British cruise ship Diamond Princess, in which cases have been recorded.

The vast majority of recorded cases and deaths have been in China (over 80,000 cases and over 2,900 deaths), but Italy has had the third most recorded cases with almost 1,700 cases and the third highest number of deaths at 34.

Japan has had 256 cases recorded so far with six fatalities while Thailand has 42 recorded cases and one death as of now.

The spread of COVID-19 has also led to losses on stock markets around the world that have been the most serious since the 2008 global financial crisis.

With many cases of the disease believed to be undetected, it is not yet clear how many more events in MotoGP and other global series will be affected.

There are fears of the inaugural F1 Vietnamese Grand Prix being postponed or cancelled and the opening round of the FIM Asia Road Racing Championship in Sepang on March 6 to 8 will be affected as some teams have decided to withdraw.

As things stand, we may not get to see Marquez, Quartararo, Rossi, Vinales and company in action until April 3 to 5, which is when the Grand Prix of the Americas will be held in Austin, Texas.