Zigwheels Weekly Motorsport Roundup

Published May 18, 2020
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Motorsport highlights from the week of May 11 to 17

The pieces of the F1 driver market fell into place after Sebastian Vettel’s decision to quit Ferrari after 2020, while MotoGP decided to cancel all wild card entries for this season. In the World Rally Championship, the Safari Rally Kenya’s return to the WRC calendar has been delayed and the powers that be in Indian motorsport are targeting a return to action later this year.

Indian Motorsport

In the new guidelines issued by the Indian government, the opening of sports complexes and stadia has been announced. No crowds will be allowed at any facility holding a sporting event. It can, therefore, be expected that plans to start holding national level racing and rallying events from August or September will remain on track. India enters the fourth phase of the nationwide lockdown that has been put into place to tackle the coronavirus pandemic. The fourth phase of the lockdown started today and will be in effect until May 31.

Formula 1

Sebastian Vettel’s shock decision to quit from Ferrari at the end of this season set into motion Carlos Sainz Jr. from McLaren to take his place. Daniel Ricciardo will, in turn, end his association with the Renault F1 team and take Sainz’s place at McLaren.

Meanwhile Silverstone announced that it would be ready to host two behind closed door races on back to back weekends on July 26 and August 2. F1 plans to start its season in Austria on July 5 and is targeting a 15 to 18 race season.

Pirelli announced that it would allocate a standard set of tyres for the duration of the 2020 F1 season rather than allow teams to choose compounds before a race. The move will greatly reduce logistical issues that would come with transporting over a thousand tyres across different compounds for a race.

MotoGP

Wild card entries in a MotoGP are handed out to local riders who are not part of the regular grid that takes part in every race of the year. This year, in order to limit the number of people present at a MotoGP weekend in light of the coronavirus pandemic, wild card entries will be scrapped. This means that former three-time premier class champion Jorge Lorenzo will not race on a Yamaha at the Catalan Grand Prix, which had been originally scheduled for June this year.

The Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli announced that it had reopened and local Italian riders were busy laying down rubber on the circuit in order to get it ready to host competitive events. Over in Asia, the Sepang International Circuit also reopened for training purposes. Both venues are part of the MotoGP calendar. Misano is scheduled to host the San Marino Grand Prix on September 13 and Sepang is scheduled to host the Malaysian Grand Prix on November 1.

World Rally Championship

Unlike the other two major international motorsport championships (F1 and MotoGP), the WRC had managed to start its season and has held the opening three rounds of the calendar. After the third round in Mexico, the WRC had to temporarily shut shop too as the outbreak of the COVID-19 disease around the world brough all sporting activities to a close. It had been hoped that the season would resume on July 16, with the much anticipated return of the Safari Rally Kenya. The event has, unfortunately, been cancelled for 2020 and will be postponed for 2021. The season is now expected to resume at Rally Finland on August 6. Defending driver’s champion Ott Tanak of Toyota will be one of five entries that the Japanese manufacturer will field.