MXGP considers plan-B calendar
The 2021 World Cup calendar has already undergone numerous changes. Recently, the cancellations of the Swedish and Finnish GPs were added, while the Latvian GP had already been postponed. Due to the impact of the Covid-19 crisis, MXGP promoter Infront Motor Racing has to walk a tightrope to bring the calendar to a successful conclusion.
International travel, quarantine policies and new Covid-19 variants that are emerging, the variables that are making themselves felt, make it particularly difficult for Infront to complete the competitions as planned. It goes without saying that this also entails additional frustrations and costs.
For example, there is currently a lot of speculation about the stability of the Portuguese GP at the end of October and the three overseas competitions in Argentina, Indonesia and Bali in November and December. Although those races are still quite far away and some countries are relaxing, it appears that MXGP will complete two or three rounds at the same locations. Last year, the same measure was used to achieve the desired number of matches.
The first “double-header” will be the GP of Turkey in Afyonkarahisar on September 5, followed by the GP of 'Afyon' at the same location three days later. This would complete the milestone of 9 World Championship rounds. Infront indicated that they still hope to complete a large part of the existing calendar after Turkey as planned. That schedule includes: Sardinia, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal and Italy before the championship starts the last three overseas races. However, it is likely that the Trentino GP in Pietramurata in Northern Italy will again host more than one round on September 31.
“For Trentino we are considering increasing the number of races,” said Infront Motor Racing CEO David Luongo in an exclusive conversation. “For the other locations we are still focusing on 'Plan A', but we have to deal with the rules imposed by governments and we have to evaluate from week to week. The Finnish government's ruling only came last week. From August 26, it will only be possible to hold IM events in Finland with 50 people. That was impossible for a GP.”
“We are dependent on the decisions of the government,” Luongo underlined, “both for restrictions on public gatherings and for the quarantine rules in place in the MXGP paddock. “It is likely that we will have some changes before the end of the season, but we will do everything we can to have 19 events. The most important thing is to have a decent season with a title that has value. That is the same mission we have been working on for almost two years now.”
Tekst: Adam Wheeler, Tom Jacobs
Photos: Ray Archer, archive
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