Coronavirus: When will motorsport resume in 2020?

Postponements:

Folds of Honor Quik Trip 500 - Atlanta Motor Speedway - 15 March

Dixie Vodka 400 - Homestead-Miami Speedway - 22 March

O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 - Texas Motor Speedway - 29 March

Food City 500 - Bristol Motor Speedway - 5 April

Toyota Owners 400 - Richmond Raceway - 19 April

GEICO 500 - Talladega Superspeedway - 26 April

Dover 400 - Dover International Speedway - 3 May

Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 - Martinsville Speedway - 9 May

When will the 2020 IndyCar season begin?

 

Photo by: Scott R LePage / Motorsport Images

The 2020 IndyCar season will be getting underway at Texas Motor Speedway on June 6, with the event – practice, qualifying, race – squeezed into one day. The race will be shortened to 200 laps, no fans will be allowed, and only 20 team members will be permitted per entry. 

Initially, the series called off its first four events in St Petersburg, Barber Motorsport Park in Alabama, Long Beach and the Circuit of the Americas.

Then on March 26, the GMR Grand Prix of Indianapolis was confirmed as moving to July 4, forming a unique and very welcome double-header with the NASCAR Xfinity round which this year is switching from the Speedway to the IMS road course.

At the same time, the Indianapolis 500 was shifted to August, with qualifying occurring over the weekend of Aug. 15-16 and the 104th running of the race being held on Aug. 23.

The postponement until 2021 of the Summer Olympics in Tokyo freed up the July/August schedule for IndyCar's TV partner NBC, allowing a shuffle of the July and August schedule beyond just the insertion of the two Indianapolis races. The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio will now run on Aug. 9, and the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway is now set for Aug. 30. The Grand Prix of Portland, too, has been shifted back one week.

On April 6, IndyCar revealed that what had been set as the new season-opening event – the Detroit Grand Prix double-header – had also bitten the dust, and with no hope of rescheduling. 

In its stead, both the Iowa Speedway and WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca events would be turned into double-headers, while a second event on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course – the Harvest Grand Prix – had been added for Saturday, Oct. 3.

However, it has not been set as a finale, because what was once regarded as a canceled season-opener, the 17th Indy car race at St. Petersburg, was redefined as postponed. On May 13,  this was indeed proven to be the case, with St. Pete being announced as the season-closer, to be held on Oct. 25.

On May 21, Richmond was scrubbed from the schedule, while Toronto was also deleted, despite Green Savoree Promotions suggesting earlier in the week they were hoping to squeeze in a new date in the fall. Road America became a double-header and was moved to July to fill what was previously the Canadian round's date. That currently leaves a four-week gap between Rounds 1 and 2 of the sadly butchered 2020 schedule. 

Confirmed cancellations:

Barber Motorsport Park, Birmingham, Alabama - 5 April
Long Beach, California - 19 April
Circuit of the Americas, Austin, Texas - 26 April
Belle Isle, Detroit, Michigan - 30-31 May 
Richmond Raceway, Virginia - June 27
Toronto, Canada - July 12*
*Promoters seeking to reschedule

Revised, tentative 2020 NTT IndyCar Series schedule:

Saturday, June 6 - Texas Motor Speedway 
Saturday, July 4 - Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course 
Saturday, July 11 - Road America 
Sunday, July 12 - Road America 
Friday, July 17 - Iowa Speedway 
Saturday, July 18 - Iowa Speedway 
Sunday, Aug. 9 - Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course 
Sunday, Aug. 23 - Indianapolis 500 Mile Race 
Sunday, Aug. 30 - World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway
Sunday, Sept. 13 - Portland International Raceway 
Saturday, Sept. 19 - WeatherTech Raceway at Laguna Seca 
Sunday, Sept. 20 - WeatherTech Raceway at Laguna Seca 
Saturday, Oct. 3 - Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course 
Sunday, Oct. 25 - Streets of St. Petersburg

When will the World Superbike season resume?

Chaz Davies, ARUBA.IT Racing Ducati

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

World Superbike was fortunate to squeeze in its season-opener in Phillip Island shortly before the COVID-19 situation dramatically worsened in Europe.

However, not long after the three Phillip Island races, it was announced that the second round at Qatar - due to take place a week after the MotoGP race - was placed on hold.

A revised calendar was subsequently issued that did not give the Qatar round a new date, but did feature the third round of the season at Jerez being rescheduled for October. The Assen race was postponed on March 24, and rescheduled for late August.

In mid-April, another calendar revision was issued with May's Imola round being axed entirely and the following two events at Aragon and Misano being postponed, meaning the season now won't resume until July's Donington Park round at the earliest.

On May 7, the Oschersleben round, due to take place at the start of August, was also cancelled, with the Jerez race pushed forward to early August. In late May, it was confirmed the season would restart at the Spanish track, with the Donington Park round postponed.

Revised 2020 WSBK calendar:

Date	Venue
February 28-March 1	Phillip Island
March 13-15	Losail - postponed but no new date assigned
July 3-5	Donington Park - postponed but no new date assigned
July 31-August 2	Jerez
August 7-9	Portimao
August 21-23	Assen - postponed but no new date assigned
August 28-30	Aragon
September 18-20	Catalunya
October 2-4	Magny-Cours
October 9-11	El Villicum
October 23-25	Jerez
November 6-8	Misano

When will the Formula E season resume?

Felipe Massa, Venturi, EQ Silver Arrow 01 Maximilian Günther, BMW I Andretti Motorsports, BMW iFE.20, Daniel Abt, Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler, Audi e-tron FE06

Photo by: Dom Romney / Motorsport Images

The 2019/20 Formula E season has been placed on hold for the foreseeable future.

The Sanya E-Prix was first to be postponed at the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, followed by the Rome E-Prix after the spread of the virus intensified dramatically in northern Italy.

FE's announcement in early March meant that the Paris round, along with calendar newcomers Seoul and Jakarta, have also been postponed until further notice. In mid-April, series chiefs made the call to postpone the Berlin race scheduled for late June, and a month later it was decided to axe the remaining two rounds on the schedule in New York and London.

Plans are afoot to conclude the current season with as many as three events - with Berlin and Seoul the leading candidates to host races, along with a permanent British track such as Donington Park or Brands Hatch - starting in late July or August.

However, FE chief Alejandro Agag has stated that the season will not extend beyond September, with the following campaign due to kick off in December, and that it if remains impossible to get racing again by then the 2019/20 campaign will be simply abandoned.

Confirmed postponements:

Sanya E-Prix - China - 21 March

Rome E-Prix - Italy - 4 April 

Paris E-Prix - France - 18 April

Seoul E-Prix - South Korea - 3 May 

Jakarta E-Prix - Indonesia - 6 June 

Berlin E-Prix - Germany - 21 June

New York E-Prix - USA - 11 July

London E-Prix - UK - 25/26 July

When will the FIA World Endurance Championship season resume?

#8 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota TS050: Sébastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima, Brendon Hartley

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Following the cancellation of the Sebring 1000 Miles event, the FIA World Endurance Championship was left with little option but to postpone the following race at Spa, that was due to take place on April 25, leaving only the Le Mans 24 Hours left on the 2019/20 schedule.

The ACO then postponed the 24 Hours of Le Mans until September 19-20, using a date similar to that used in 1968 when strikes and civil unrest forced it from its usual mid-summer spot. 

ACO President Pierre Fillon told Motorsport.com that he's willing to push back Le Mans until as late as November, should it become impossible to host the race on its rescheduled September date.

The preceding Spa WEC race has been provisionally pencilled in for August 15, but this could become a closed-doors race given the Belgian government has banned all mass gatherings until the end of August.

Postponing Le Mans will mean a later start to the next WEC season, which was originally due to begin in September at Silverstone but will now instead kick off in March next year, most likely at Sebring.

As such, the Silverstone, Monza, Fuji and Kyalami races on the original 2020/21 calendar are all in jeopardy, with series boss Gerard Neveu not ruling out a condensed schedule.

Confirmed cancellations/postponements:

Sebring 1000 Miles - USA - 13 March (cancelled, replaced by new Bahrain race)

Spa 6 Hours - Belgium - 25 April (postponed to August 15)

Le Mans 24 Hours - France - 13-14 June (postponed to September 19-20)

When will the Supercars season resume?

Jamie Whincup, Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden

Photo by: Dirk Klynsmith / Motorsport Images

Supercars has confirmed that its season will resume with its second round of 2020 at Sydney Motorsport Park on June 27/28.

The series has now unveiled a second version of its revised schedule, with the two early 2021 races cancelled and a new season finale, under lights back in Sydney, locked in. 

Revised 2020 Supercars calendar:

*Subject to change

When will the World Rally Championship resume?

Elfyn Evans, Scott Martin, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota Yaris WRC

Photo by: Toyota Racing

The WRC was fortunate enough to get three rounds under its belt before being brought to a halt by the COVID-19 pandemic, with the opening Monte Carlo event in January, February's Rally Sweden and Rally Mexico in March all being completed.

However, the final day of Rally Mexico was stopped to help people working in the paddock return home prior to travel restrictions being imposed.

The fifth round in Argentina originally slated for the end of April was also put on hold after the country put a temporary ban on international sporting events. That was followed by the news that the following two events in Portugal and Italy would also have to be delayed, before Rally Portugal was cancelled altogether at the end of April.

The Safari Rally was called off just two weeks later, followed by Rally Finland and Rally New Zealand at the start of June and then Rally GB. The series is now looking at topping up the depleted calendar with events from the European Rally Championship, with the goal of completing at least seven rallies in total to be able to award championship titles.

Confirmed postponements/cancellations:

Rally Argentina - April 30-1 May

Rally Portugal - May 21-24 (cancelled)

Rally Italy - June 4-8

Safari Rally - July 16-19 (cancelled)

Rally Finland - August 6-9 (cancelled)

Rally New Zealand - September 3-6 (cancelled)

Rally GB - October 29-November 1 (cancelled)

Elsewhere in the off-road world, the World Rallycross season is on hold until August, with a new calendar for the series being issued on May 4.

How will coronavirus affect other international events?

Jamie Green, Audi Sport Team Rosberg, Audi RS 5 DTM

Photo by: Alexander Trienitz

A revised DTM calendar was issued on June 3 featuring a visit to Spa, and dropping the planned rounds at Igora Drive, Anderstorp, Brands Hatch and Monza. Subsequently, the Norisring opener was also cancelled, leaving Spa as the opening round.

The FIA World Touring Car Cup issued a revised Europe-only calendar on May 28, featuring a run of six rounds in Europe from September to November. The BTCC meanwhile issued a new calendar late in April, revealing that the season would now start in August, most likely behind closed doors, and end in November.

In Japan, both Super Formula and SUPER GT have delayed the opening races of their respective schedules. Super Formula is now due to get underway at Motegi on August 29-30, while a radically revised SUPER GT calendar now begins at Fuji in mid-July.

The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will resume in July with a pair of behind closed door races at Daytona and Sebring, with the Sebring 12 Hours having been rescheduled for November. The Long Beach, Detroit and Canadian Tire Motorsports Park rounds have been cancelled.

Elsewhere in sportscar racing, the European Le Mans Series has dropped Silverstone from its revised calendar and is set to begin at Paul Ricard in July, while the GT World Challenge Europe (formerly Blancpain GT Series) is also set to begin in July at Imola, with its blue riband Spa 24 Hours round delayed until October.