Hand sanitiser station, Albert Park, Melbourne, 2020

Over 75 races worldwide now cancelled or postponed due to Coronavirus

Other motorsport

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The international motorsport schedule has been hit hard by the Coronavirus.

With the full consequences of the virus becoming clear as many series were poised to begin their new championships, many have been forced to delay the start to their seasons.

They include Formula 1, which sent it teams to Australia for its season-opening race, but called off the event just hours before practice was due to begin. One team, McLaren, had already pulled out after a member of staff tested positive for the Coronavirus. The series has since increased its number of delayed events to at least four, with two more expected to follow.

Among the other championships to delay the start to their seasons are IndyCar, whose first four races will not go ahead, and Moto GP, which has also cancelled four races in Thailand, Qatar, Argentina and the USA.

Many of these have had knock-on effects on other series which had support events planned for the same race. TCR Australia’s first race in Melbourne was minutes away from starting when the grand prix was called off.

Its counterpart series in China was due to race in Wuhan, where the virus originated. Wuhan and other cities in the Hubei province have been in lockdown since the end of January, and unsurprisingly its October race has already been cancelled.

The only later race on the schedule to be called off is a 24H Series event at the Circuit of the Americas, which has been moved to make way for Moto GP’s rescheduled race at the track.

One new series, TitansRX, has decided not to proceed with its 2020 championship until a full picture of the disruption caused by Coronavirus becomes clear.

The table below lists the known event postponements and cancellations at this point, though there are likely to be other series which have cancelled events. Note the list includes series which hold more than one race per event.

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OrderDatesSeriesEventLocationCountry
1March 6 – March 8Moto GPQatar Grand PrixLosail International CircuitQatar
2March 13 – March 15World SuperbikesQatarLosail International CircuitQatar
3March 13 – March 15Formula 1Australian Grand PrixMelbourneAustralia
4March 13 – March 15IndyCarSt Petersburg Grand PrixSt PetersburgUSA
5March 14 – March 15NASCARAtlanta Motor Speedway 500Atlanta Motor SpeedwayUSA
6March 13 – March 15Indy LightsSt PetersburgSt PetersburgUSA
7March 13 – March 15Indy Pro 2000St PetersburgSt PetersburgUSA
8March 13 – March 15USF2000St PetersburgSt PetersburgUSA
9March 13 – March 15TC AmericasSt PetersburgSt PetersburgUSA
10March 12 – March 15TCR Asia Pacific CupMelbourneMelbourneAustralia
11March 15 – March 15NHRAGatornationalsGainesvilleUSA
12March 13 – March 15SupercarsMelbourneAlbert ParkAustralia
13March 14 – March 15British Rally ChampionshipWest Cork RallyCorkIreland
14March 19 – March 20World Endurance ChampionshipSebring 1000kmSebringUSA
15March 21 – March 21Formula ESanya EPrixSanyaChina
16March 18 – March 21IMSA12 Hours of SebringSebringUSA
17March 20 – March 21IMSA ChallengeSebringSebringUSA
18March 20 – March 22Moto GPThailand Grand PrixBuriram International CircuitThailand
19March 21 – March 22Super TaikyuRound oneSuzukaJapan
20March 21 – March 22NASCARHomestead-Miami 400Homestead-MiamiUSA
21March 20 – March 22Formula 1Bahrain Grand PrixBahrain International CircuitBahrain
22March 20 – March 22Formula 2Bahrain roundsBahrain International CircuitBahrain
23March 20 – March 22Formula 3Bahrain roundsBahrain International CircuitBahrain
24March 26 – March 2824H Series12H EstorilEstorilPortugal
25March 27 – March 29World SuperbikesSpainJerezSpain
26April 4 – April 4Formula ERome EprixRomeItaly
27April 4 – April 5Super FormulaRound oneSuzukaJapan
28April 3 – April 5Ferrari Challenge EuropeMugello roundMugelloItaly
29April 3 – April 5Moto GPAmericas Grand PrixCircuit of the AmericasUSA
30April 3 – April 5IndyCarAlabama Grand PrixBarber Motorsports ParkUSA
31April 4 – April 5European Le Mans SeriesFour Hours of BarcelonaCircuit de CatalunyaSpain
32April 3 – April 5Formula 1Vietnam Grand PrixHanoi CircuitVietnam
33April 3 – April 5Indy LightsAlabama Grand PrixBarber Motorsports ParkUSA
34April 3 – April 5Indy Pro 2000Alabama Grand PrixBarber Motorsports ParkUSA
35April 3 – April 5USF2000Alabama Grand PrixBarber Motorsports ParkUSA
36April 4 – April 5Super Formula LightsRound oneSuzukaJapan
37April 15 – April 15S5000MelbourneAlbert ParkAustralia
38April 18 – April 18Formula EParis EPrixParisFrance
39April 17 – April 19Formula 1Chinese Grand PrixShanghai International CircuitChina
40April 17 – April 19Porsche Carrera Cup AsiaShanghai roundShanghai International CircuitChina
41April 17 – April 19Chinese Formula FourShanghai roundShanghai International CircuitChina
42April 17 – April 19GT World Challenge EuropeMonza roundMonzaItaly
43April 17 – April 19Formula Renault EurocupMonza roundMonzaItaly
44April 17 – April 19Moto GPArgentinian Grand PrixTermas de Rio HondoArgentina
45April 18 – April 19World Rallycross ChampionshipWorld RX of SpainCircuit de CatalunyaSpain
46April 24 – April 26IndyCarLong Beach Grand PrixLong BeachUSA
47April 24 – April 26World Touring Car CupRace of HungaryHungaroringHungary
48April 23 – April 26World Rally ChampionshipRally ArgentinaArgentinaArgentina
49April 24 – April 26IMSALong BeachLong BeachUSA
50April 25 – April 26NASCAR Euro SeriesValencia NASCAR GP SpainValenciaSpain
51May 3 – May 3Formula ESeoul EPrixSeoulSouth Korea
52May 6 – May 6Formula EJakarta EPrixJakartaIndonesia
53May 7 – May 9IndyCarAmericas Grand PrixCircuit of the AmericasUSA
54May 9 – May 10European Le Mans SeriesFour Hours of MonzaMonzaItaly
55October 9 – October 11TCR ChinaWuhanWuhanChina
56November 13 – November 1524H Series24H COTACircuit of the AmericasUSA

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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10 comments on “Over 75 races worldwide now cancelled or postponed due to Coronavirus”

  1. Thanks for compiling this list! Crazy to see just how much has been affected!

    FYI TitansRX isn’t a ‘new’ series so to speak, it ran its first full season in 2019

  2. For NASCAR, it’s not just the Premier Cup series, but the NASCAR Xfinity and NASCAR Truck series as well.

  3. Back into hibernation it is then. Makes for a change.

    Do stay safe, and do continue to support your local clubs, tracks and juniors.
    See you in June. Well, August. September, surely.

  4. About the last two: Are (or were) they ‘original’ dates for those events, or actually re-scheduled ones given how late into the year they’re set?

  5. So, for the moment at least, DTM and BTCC are going ahead? BTCC is largely domestic, but I’m a bit surprised at DTM as it attracts sizeable international crowds.

  6. I knew Friday the 13th was unlucky, but this one was unprecedented.

  7. Interesting, only one NHRA race on the list.

  8. Why don’t The organizer start sim races to replace the actual race with real drivers in the respective series? I see sim racing this year could be even bigger!

  9. … and not a single person has even a 0.001% improvement in their odds of avoiding infection due to any of those cancellations.

    But thousands will lose motorsport or event related jobs over the next few months.

    Penny wise, pound foolish.

  10. So… is everybody working on their 2021 cars? I would be. They have a whole factory with nothing to do. Maybe build mule cars in the off time. I seem to remember Ferrari did this with the hybrid engines.

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