MotoGP has announced its 2020 season-opener in Qatar will not go ahead due to travel restrictions brought about by the coronavirus outbreak. The virus – known as Covid-19 – originated in China and is reported to have infected more than 80,000 people globally and resulted in at least 3000 deaths since the outbreak. In recent
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Johann Zarco says his “main target right now” is to establish a “base” of top 10 finishes in the early part of his first MotoGP season on the Avintia Ducati. After quitting KTM midway through last year – and then being dropped outright after the Misano round – Zarco was thrown a lifeline by Ducati
The opening two rounds of the 2020 MotoGP world championship have been scrubbed from the schedule due to travel restrictions put in place over coronavirus fears. On Sunday night series organisers Dorna Sports and MotoGP’s governing body the FIM announced it had to cancel the Qatar Grand Prix for the premier class due to the
Dorna Sports may move the Aragon MotoGP race forward by two weeks to accommodate the postponed Thailand round on October 4. The MotoGP promoter is continuing to work through a revised calendar amid the COVID-19 crisis, with the season-opener at Qatar already called off and the second round in Buriram postponed. It is yet to
CEO of Dorna Sports Carmelo Ezpeleta insists “there will absolutely be a 2020 MotoGP season” in a statement responding to the cancellation of the first two races due to coronavirus. On Sunday evening, series organisers Dorna confirmed it had cancelled this weekend’s Qatar MotoGP race owing to all travellers from Italy – which saw a
Penske’s Will Power played down the issue of rain water leaking into his cockpit from IndyCar’s new-for-2020 aeroscreen during the ongoing test at the Circuit of the Americas. At the two-day test at COTA beginning on Tuesday, drivers were met with rain and fog as well as low temperatures, meaning most drivers didn’t run in
James Hinchcliffe will return to Andretti Autosport to contest at least three IndyCar rounds this season, including the Indianapolis 500, after being dropped by Arrow McLaren SP last October. The 33-year-old Canadian, who won three times in as many seasons with the team between 2012 and 2014, will drive a sixth Andretti entry backed by
IndyCar owner Roger Penske has announced the prize fund for the Indianapolis 500 will rise by $2million, and that the controversial guaranteed starting spots concept will not be adopted. The overall pot for this year’s race will be $15m, the biggest in the event’s history, while the winner will receive at least $2m. While qualifying
Penske’s two-time Supercars champion Scott McLaughlin will take part in IndyCar’s oval rookie test at Texas on Friday. McLaughlin drove on both days of IndyCar’s ‘spring training’ test at Austin on Tuesday and Wednesday in preparation for his debut in the Indianapolis road course race, and will be back in Penske’s #2 car this week
Two-time IRL race-winner Robbie Buhl is part of a new IndyCar Series team, Citrone/Buhl Autosport, that aims to contest this year’s Grand Prix of Indianapolis and the Indianapolis 500. The team is a partnership between former Dreyer & Reinbold Racing co-owner Buhl, who beat the likes of Adrian Fernandez and Bryan Herta to the 1992
IndyCar will reintroduce grid penalties for unapproved engine changes this season for the first time since 2013. Any car that has its engine changed before a manufacturer’s pre-determined mileage limit has been reached will suffer a grid penalty in the next race – a six-place drop for road/street courses and a nine-place drop on ovals.
McLaren CEO Zak Brown has admitted that Fernando Alonso’s return with Arrow McLaren SP for this year’s Indianapolis 500 came about after his negotiations with Andretti Autosport broke down. Two-time Formula 1 world champion Alonso, who made his highly impressive Indy 500 debut with a McLaren-backed Andretti Autosport entry in 2017, failed to qualify for
Two-time Formula 1 world champion Fernando Alonso will contest the Indianapolis 500 for a third time with the Arrow McLaren SP IndyCar outfit. Alonso’s #66 Chevrolet-powered car, a third entry in addition to those driven by the team’s full-time 2020 IndyCar drivers Patricio O’Ward and Oliver Askew, will hit the track for the first time
Fernando Alonso’s decision to contest the Indianapolis 500 with Arrow-McLaren SP instead of Andretti Autosport was driven by his “loyalty” to his former Formula 1 team McLaren. Alonso will return to the famous Brickyard event this year having failed to qualify for it in 2019, but previously insisted it would be just a one-off appearance
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing will partner with Citrone/Buhl Autosport to give Spencer Pigot IndyCar lifeline entries in the Indianapolis road race and the Indianapolis 500. The new team, a partnership formed between sometime Indycar driver Robbie Buhl, his brother and business partner Tom, Robert Citrone – the founder of Discovery Capital Management and the largest
Double Xfinity champion Tyler Reddick believes he can make the playoffs in his first NASCAR Cup season in 2020, despite admitting that prediction ‘sounds crazy’. Reddick won NASCAR’s second tier Xfinity series in 2018 and 2019, but a move to Richard Childress Racing last year realigned his path to the Cup series. He will contest
The Daytona 500 has been suspended until Monday afternoon for only the second time in the history of the season-opening NASCAR Cup series race after rain in Florida. The race was originally scheduled to begin at 3.18pm local time, but the 40-strong field was held on pit-road for an hour as a light rain shower
Roush Fenway Racing has offered an update on injured NASCAR driver Ryan Newman, saying he is “fully alert and walking around” in hospital in Florida. Newman, 42, was injured in a last-lap wreck in Monday’s rain-delayed Daytona 500, when contact at the final corner tipped him hard into the barrier, which in turn sent him
NASCAR driver Ryan Newman’s Rousch Fenway Racing team says he is “awake and speaking” after suffering serious injuries in a horror crash during the Daytona 500. Newman, 42, was injured in a last-lap wreck in Monday’s race at Daytona International Speedway, which was delayed from its original Sunday slot due to poor weather. He was
Ryan Newman is in a “serious condition” in hospital following his final-lap accident at the NASCAR Cup season-opening Daytona 500, but his injuries are not life threatening. Newman, driving for Roush Fenway Racing, was dicing for the lead of the race in the second round of overtime with Ryan Blaney and Denny Hamlin, with his
Denny Hamlin became the fourth driver in NASCAR history to win back-to-back Daytona 500’s with victory in overtime, though a frightening Ryan Newman crash overshadowed the season-opening Cup race’s finish. The race was rescheduled from Sunday to Monday for just the second time after rain forced postponement with just 20 racing laps possible. Hamlin, who
Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman took his second NASCAR Cup win after claiming victory at Fontana – a venue he previously hadn’t finished in the top 10 at. Bowman, who started third, was one of the fastest drivers across the 200-lap race in his Chevrolet Camaro and was towards the front of the field throughout. He
NASCAR Cup driver Ryan Newman continues to receive treatment for a head injury after his dramatic Daytona 500 accident, but is determined to get back to racing when fit again. Newman, the 2008 Daytona 500 winner and 2014 Cup Series runner-up, was leading the rain-delayed race in the closing stages when his Roush Fenway Racing
Joey Logano won the second round of the 2020 NASCAR Cup season at Las Vegas as a last-lap incident denied Matt DiBenedetto the opportunity to snatch the victory. A caution was brought out just six laps before the chequered flag when Ross Chastain, filling in for Ryan Newman, spun the #6 Roush Fenway Ford. All
Ryan Newman’s NASCAR Cup rivals say they are relieved by his recovery from last weekend’s Daytona 500 crash, which they say offered a warning about the dangers of the series. Newman suffered what was initially described as “serious but non-life threatening” injuries when his car turned into the wall, went airborne and was hit by
Sebastian Vettel believes Mercedes looked “more at ease” with its new Formula 1 car through winter testing, leaving Ferrari trailing ahead of the new season. Mercedes ended pre-season testing with the fastest time and more laps completed than any other team, prompting Ferrari chief Mattia Binotto to declare his team was behind on pace. Vettel
AlphaTauri boss Franz Tost believes it would be “unfair” for Formula 1 to allow the Australian Grand Prix to go ahead if several teams are absent over Coronavirus travel restrictions. While a host of major sporting events, including the MotoGP season opener in Qatar and the following Thailand Grand Prix, have been called off because
Gene Haas says his team’s start to the new season will decide whether or not he commits it to staying in Formula 1 beyond the end of this year. The American has long been clear that he is only interested in continuing to invest in F1 if his outfit can be competitive, and he is
Lando Norris says McLaren’s 2020 Formula 1 car feels “less on edge” compared to its predecessor after the conclusion of winter testing. Norris’s best time from across the two three-day tests at Barcelona last month ended up as the slowest lap in the combined standings, but his team-mate – Carlos Sainz Jr – put McLaren
Haas Formula 1 team boss Gunther Steiner has said that the championship promoter will ensure all the competitors are able to enter Australia for next week’s grand prix. The Australian Grand Prix Corporation has also confirmed that the event will go ahead. Fears about the spread of coronavirus COVID-19 caused disruption to last week’s Formula