Race dates: The calendars are clearing
FURTHER CANCELLATIONS It is becoming increasingly clear that motorsport will be at a standstill for weeks to come. Even races that have already been postponed are affected. After the cancellation of the Bure slalom, it is uncertain when the races will start in Switzerland. The 2020 Swiss racing calendar has been canceled once again. The fourth slalom, the one in Bure (May 24/24), will not take place either. Behind the [...]
The 2020 Swiss race calendar has been canceled once again. The fourth slalom, the one in Bure (May 24/24), will also not take place. Behind the scenes, other organizers are following the current situation with concern.
For example, the Hemberg Hillclimb Association, which will consult by telephone at the beginning of April and then probably decide whether to stop the current preparations for the first SM race on June 20/21 or wait until April 19. Then, or possibly earlier, the Federal Council will announce whether the current measures will be relaxed, maintained or even tightened.
German mountain race opener in Hemberg?
In Germany, the first three hill climb races that count towards the national championship have been canceled. The season in this discipline would have started with the Ibergrennen on the last weekend in June.
If the Hembergrennen actually takes place a week earlier (which we of course secretly hope and wish for), at least the KW Berg Cup would have its kick-off there. For the first time, this popular German touring car mountain racing series will be a guest in Toggenburg.
Eight of 22 Grands Prix already canceled (GP Monaco) or postponed
Just how unpredictable the effects of the spread of the coronavirus are can be seen internationally in several race dates. On March 23, the GP Azerbaijan was postponed indefinitely from June 7.
It is unlikely that the Formula 1 season opener will take place a week later in Canada. The organizer of the first European GP at the end of June in Le Castellet is also sceptical.
It is already certain that the anniversary season - 70 years of Formula 1 - will start later than any other since 1950 and will undoubtedly continue into the winter.
The next two rounds of the World Rally Championship, Portugal (May 21-24) and Sardinia (June 4-7), were also officially postponed on March 24. With Argentina, there are now three WRC events scheduled for the second half of the year.
No motorsport in Great Britain until the end of June
So far, it is not Italy, where Covid-19 is raging the most, that has gone furthest in Europe, but the UK. For the time being, no motorsport events will be permitted there by the British association until the end of June after the government tightened the measures from March 23.
After the organizing SRO had to cancel the first endurance race in Monza in mid-April, the next races of the GT World Challenge Europe in Brands Hatch (Sprint) and Silverstone (Endurance) on the first two weekends in May have now also been canceled without replacement. Emil Frey Racing will therefore have to keep its Lamborghini in the Safenwil workshop for at least another two months.
No confirmed race dates in the first half of the year
Whether the most popular GT racing series in Europe will then begin with the 1000 kilometers Paul Ricard at the end of May is questionable. The DTM, which has not made any announcements apart from the cancellation of last week's tests in Hockenheim, is also still very quiet.
The only thing that is certain at the moment is that no race date in the first half of the year is certain. And there will be an unprecedented concentration in the second half of the year.
But this will be the case for every sport when it is allowed to be practiced again.
