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Dutch, Spanish, Monaco GPs postponed; F2, F3 too – due to Corona
London, 19 March 2020: In view of the continued global spread of COVID-19 and after ongoing discussions with the FIA and the three promoters it has today been confirmed that the Formula 1 Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2020, Formula 1 Gran Premio De España 2020 and Formula 1 Grand Prix De Monaco 2020 will be postponed.
Due to the ongoing and fluid nature of the COVID-19 situation globally, Formula 1, the FIA and the three promoters have taken these decisions in order to ensure the health and safety of the travelling staff, championship participants and fans, which remains our primary concern.
Formula 1 and the FIA continue to work closely with affected promoters and local authorities to monitor the situation and take the appropriate amount of time to study the viability of potential alternative dates for each Grand Prix later in the year should the situation improve.
Formula 1 and the FIA expect to begin the 2020 Championship season as soon as it’s safe to do so after May and will continue to regularly monitor the ongoing COVID-19 situation.F2, F3 too put-off:
Following the announcement that the Dutch, Spanish and Monaco Formula 1 Grands Prix have been postponed, the rounds of the FIA Formula 2 and FIA Formula 3 Championships which run alongside F1 at the same venues will consequently be postponed as well.
F2 and F3 CEO Bruno Michel said: “Together with the FIA and Formula 1, we’re closely monitoring the situation and we are studying possible new dates should the situation improve.
“For the time being, all F2 and F3 track activities are on hold. This of course includes our April testing in Barcelona (F2) and in Budapest (F3), along with a two-day test in Barcelona at the end of May (also for F3).
“Until we can get back on track we wish our teams, drivers, partners and all our fans well.”
F1 teams have to wait till the Corona Epidemic subsides. A Racing Point image for representational purpose only -
Merzouga Rally cancelled due to Corona epidemic
Morocco, 18 March 2020: Following the decision by the Moroccan authorities to suspend all events until further notice in order to combat the propagation of the Coronavirus (COVID19) epidemic, the organisers of the Merzouga Rally are regretfully obliged to cancel the next edition of the rally, which was scheduled to take place from 25 to 29 May 2020, as its organisation could no longer be guaranteed.
Although we are still several weeks away from the event dates, the great investments made by the competitors in their preparation will be partly lost if the situation does not improve and we do not want our participants to run this risk.
Bearing in mind the numerous events postponed until September and October, added to existing events on the Moroccan sports calendar, the Merzouga Rally cannot be postponed, unfortunately.
“For those competitors who wish to validate their participation in the next Dakar Rally, we will reflect on an alternative solution. Details will be notified shortly.,” the organisers said.
File photo of Merzouga Rally action. Courtesy Merzouga Rally For those competitors who wish to validate their participation in the next Dakar Rally, we will reflect on an alternative solution. Details will be notified shortly.
In the meantime, we invite all rally-raid enthusiasts to get ready for a new edition of the Merzouga Rally from 14 to 18 May 2021.
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Sebastien Ogier, Julien Ingrassia win Rally Mexico; it’s Ogier’s 6th
Mexico City, 15 March 2020: Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia claimed the win at the end of Saturday on Rally México after the decision was taken to stop the event in the face of fast-changing travel restrictions connected with the global COVID-19 virus outbreak. Ott Tänak piped Teemu Suninen to second place in a thrilling afternoon finale.
Rally officials, the WRC Promoter and FIA reached a decision to halt the event after SS21. Enough stage distance had been covered to ensure that the third round of the FIA World Rally Championship was eligible for full championship points – with the exception of points for the cancelled Power Stage – and it gave team personnel and members of the international media additional time to return to their countries before any further restrictions were put in place on air travel because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ogier guided his Toyota Yaris WRC to four stage wins on his way to a 27.8-second victory over defending World Champion Ott Tänak. The success was the Frenchman’s 48th WRC career win, a feat surpassed only by Loeb’s remarkable 79 successes. It also moved Ogier and co-driver, Julien Ingrassia, to the top of the World Championship standings and enabled Toyota to increase its lead in the Manufacturers’ Championship. It was the factory Toyota team’s first success on the event and marked the fourth manufacturer with whom the Frenchman has won the rally.Rally Mexico podium on Saturday as it ends early due to Corona fears. An FIA image M-Sport Ford’s Teemu Suninen fought gallantly to fend off a fierce afternoon challenge from Tänak in his defence of second place, but the young Finn came up just short as the Estonian moved up to fifth in the Drivers’ Championship behind Ogier, Evans, Neuville, and Rovanperä. Tänak won six of the 20 special stages after fighting back from an accident that damaged the rear of the car on Friday morning.
Elfyn Evans came into the weekend as the series leader but it was never going to be easy for the Welshman to finish on the podium from his first day starting position. Fourth overall enabled the Toyota driver to stay on the coattails of his team-mate in the title race. Young Kalle Rovanperä finished fifth in the third of the Yaris WRCs.
Sixth-placed Pontus Tidemand wrapped up his third victory in the FIA WRC2 category in Léon with a dominant performance in a Toksport Škoda Fabia Evo. The Swede erred on the side of caution over the final day and eased to victory over Rally Mexico debutant Nicolay Gryazin by 1min 57.7sec, the gap exacerbated by a late drive shaft issue for the Russian.
Gryazin’s Hyundai team-mate Ole-Christian Veiby ran off a string of stage wins over the final leg, but brake issues had cost the Norwegian too much time on Friday. He finished in 10th place.
Gus Greensmith reached the finish in ninth. He lost out on a top six finish in the second of the Ford Fiesta WRCs after a time-consuming battery issue on the second stage of the day and recovered strongly to gain an extra pace on the closing super specials.
Young Bolivian driver Marco Bulacia had missed out on a FIA WRC2 category win on the event in 2019, but the talented Škoda Fabia driver dominated the newly-named FIA WRC3 section, finished eighth overall and 4min 11.1sec in front of the Citroën C3 of Chilean runner-up Emilio Fernández. Ricardo Triviño was the leading Mexican driver in 12th overall, third in WRC3 and winner of the NACAM category after an impressive drive.2020 Rally Mexico – Final official results:
1. Sébastien Ogier (FRA)/Julien Ingrassia (FRA) Toyota Yaris WRC 2hr 47min 47.6sec 2. Ott Tänak (EST)/Martin Järveoja (EST) Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC 2hr 48min 15.4sec 3. Teemu Suninen (FIN)/Jarmo Lehtinen (FIN) Ford Fiesta WRC 2hr 48min 25.5sec 4. Elfyn Evans (GBR)/Scott Martin (GBR) Toyota Yaris WRC 2hr 49min 01.0sec 5. Kalle Rovanperä (FIN)/Jonne Halttunen (FIN) Toyota Yaris WRC 2hr 50min 08.1sec 6. Pontus Tidemand (SWE)/Patrick Barth (SWE) Škoda Fabia Evo 2hr 58min 16.9sec 7. Nicolay Gryazin (RUS)/Yaroslav Fedorov (RUS) Hyundai NG i20 3hr 00min 14.6sec 8. Marco Bulacia (BOL)/Giovanni Bernacchini (ITA) Citroën C3 3hr 01min 25.1sec 9. Gus Greensmith (GBR)/Elliott Edmondson (GBR) Ford Fiesta WRC 3hr 01min 44.1sec 10. Ole-Christian Veiby (NOR)/Jonas Andersson (SWE) Hyundai NG i20 3hr 03min 19.8sec -
South India Rally postponed to June 21
Chennai, 15 March 2020: Organisers the Madras Motor Sports Club announced on Sunday that the South India Rally, scheduled for March 20 to 22 is postponed to June 19 to 21 in view of the escalation in the COVID-19 virus situation across the country, according to the Chairman of the event, Vicky Chandhok.
The South India Rally also doubles up as a round of the FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship and the first round of the FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship (4-wheelers). Federation of Motor Sports Clubs in India (FMSCI) has advised all concerned to take note of the government advisory and put off events till May-end.
Chandhok, who is also the president of Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) Working Group, said: “After much discussion internally, and following the lockdown in various States and territories across India, besides travel advisories and restrictions on public assembly, we have decided to postpone South India Rally to June 19-21.
Chikmagalur Coffee Day INRC rally run along with APRC. A file photo of 2017 by Anand Philar “We were confident of running the event on schedule as we had put in place all measures and infrastructure complying with Government of India’s health advisories to provide a safe environment to all the stakeholders. However, developments in the past couple of days forced us to rethink and decide on postponing South India Rally,” said Chandhok in a statement.
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Ban on Prithviraj illegal and unjust, says Appellate panel
Bengaluru, 15 March 2020: The Indian Motor Sports Appellate Committee of FMSCI consisting of Justice KP Sivasubramaniam (Retd.), Mr S Silambanan (Advocate) and Mrs. Lita Srinivasan (Advocate) gave a clean chit to Mr J Prithvi Raj, the President of the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI) and dismissed the ban imposed on him by the FMSCI Council on 21 November 2019. The Committee said that the Council does not have the power to ban either through the Sporting Code or through the Articles of Association and “…the action per se is improper and illegal.”
The Appeal was upheld and the ban was dismissed on 11th March 2020.
In a 6-page verdict signed by all the three members, it also said that the 3-year ban and the demotion as DCoC thereafter for a year, “is clearly illegal and cannot stand any test of reasonable conduct.”
J Prithviraj Prithvi Raj was the Clerk of the Course for the Maxperience Rally, Jodhpur, a round of the Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) that was held in September 2019. The rally was organised by Max Experience Private Limited and co-organised by Coimbatore Auto Sports Club (CASC). In the opening stage, three died in an accident and the rally was cancelled.
After a review meeting on 26 Sept 2019 by FMSCI, its Rally Commission on Oct 4 constituted a committee to inquire into the incident and suggest measures to prevent any such mishaps in the future. On Nov 5, the panel imposed a ban for three years and thereafter a one-year mandatory DCoC period on Prithvi Raj and also fined CASC for Rs.5 lakh.
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Ogier takes lead as Hyundai pair suffers setbacks: WRC
Mexico City, 13 March 2020: Toyota driver Sébastien Ogier has made a strong start to his bid for a sixth Rally Mexico victory, leading at the end of Friday morning as Hyundai drivers Ott Tänak and Dani Sordo both suffered early setbacks.
After two street stages through Guanajuato city on Thursday evening, the drivers faced the first true gravel action of the season with a trio of stages in the surrounding mountains, plus a new short test in Parque Bicentenario.
In his first appearance of 2020, Sordo was expected to be a strong contender with a favourable road position, but he was forced to stop in the morning’s first stage – El Chocolate – after a radiator pipe came loose, causing him to drop over five minutes.
Team-mate Ott Tänak – running sixth on the road as he plays catch-up in the championship following his crash on Rallye Monte-Carlo – set an impressive pace in El Chocolate, completing the 31.45 kilometres of stage 10.3 seconds faster than anyone else.
However, the reigning world champion then lost 45.9s to Ogier in SS4 Ortega due to damage at the rear of his car. He and co-driver Martin Järveoja were able to make repairs on the road section, but ended the morning loop in seventh.
With Tänak’s issues, Ogier claimed the lead with the fastest time in Ortega, and took a lead of 9.7 seconds back to León for the midday service.
Sebastian Ogier of Toyota Yaris takes lead on Friday. An FIA image Teemu Suninen has made an impressive start in his M-Sport Ford Fiesta to sit in second place, but Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville is on his heels just 0.6s behind after setting the fastest time in Parque Bicentenario.
Suninen’s team-mate Esapekka Lappi is fourth in front of championship leader Elfyn Evans, who is running first on the road on a Friday for the first time. His fellow Toyota driver Kalle Rovanperä occupies sixth place, forced to take caution through much of the morning following a slow puncture in SS3.
Behind Tänak sits the third M-Sport driver Gus Greensmith, while Pontus Tidemand leads FIA WRC2 in ninth, 23.4s in front of category rival Nikolay Gryazin. Marco Bulacia is just eight seconds further back in 11th and leading FIA WRC3.
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Bahrain, Vietnam F1 races put off; F2, F3 follow suit
Bahrain, 13 March 2020: In view of the continued global spread of COVID-19 and after ongoing discussions with the FIA, the Bahrain International Circuit, the Bahrain Motor Federation, the Hanoi People’s Committee the Vietnamese Motorsports Association, and the Vietnam Grand Prix Corporation, a decision has been taken by all parties to postpone both races due to take place on the 20th – 22nd March in Bahrain and April 3rd – 5th April in Vietnam. Following the announcement of the Australian Grand Prix’s cancellation this week and the ongoing and fluid nature of the COVID-19 situation globally, Formula 1, the FIA and the promoters have taken these decisions in order to ensure the health and safety of the travelling staff, championship participants and fans, which remains our primary concern. Formula 1 and the FIA continue to work closely with the race promoters in Bahrain and Vietnam and the local authorities to monitor the situation and take the appropriate amount of time to study the viability of potential alternative dates for each Grand Prix later in the year should the situation improve. As a result, Formula 1 and the FIA expect to begin the Championship in Europe at the end of May but given the sharp increase in COVID-19 cases in Europe in recent days, this will be regularly reviewed. Formula 1 Chairman and CEO, Chase Carey, said: “The global situation regarding COVID-19 is fluid and very difficult to predict and its right we take time to assess the situation and make the right decisions. We are taking this decision with the FIA and our promoters to ensure the safety of everyone involved in Formula 1 and our fans. The Bahrain Grand Prix is an exciting race in our schedule, and we look forward to being back there as soon as we can. We are also looking forward to Vietnam’s inaugural race and bringing the spectacle of F1 to one of the most exciting cities in the world.”
FIA President, Jean Todt, said: “Protecting people first. Together with Formula 1, the Bahrain Motor Federation, the Vietnamese Motorsports Association, and the local promoters, postponing both the Bahrain and Vietnam Grands Prix, as with the Australian Grand Prix, was the only possible decision given all of the information currently available to us. We continue to rely on the input and advice from the World Health rganisation (WHO) and governments and will work with them throughout this unpredictable period to safeguard the fans, competitors and all of the motor sport community.”F2, F3 too, postponed:
Following the announcement that the Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix has been postponed, it has been decided conjointly with the FIA and F1 that the opening 2020 round of the FIA Formula 2 and FIA Formula 3 Championships, scheduled to take place on March 20-22, will also be postponed.
F2 and F3 CEO Bruno Michel said: “We’re sorry we have to postpone our opening Round at the Bahrain International Circuit, but of course the safety of everyone in our paddock and the fans has to come first.
“We conducted our pre-season tests at Sakhir and we’re looking forward to racing there as soon as possible.
“We will communicate a revised 2020 F2 and F3 calendar at a later date.”Image courtesy: Bahrain International Circuit -
South India Rally from March 20 in Chennai
Chennai, 13 March 2020: The South India Rally, organised by the Madras Motor Sports Club, and which doubles up as the opening rounds of the FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship and the Indian National Rally Championship (4-wheelers), will be held as scheduled in Chennai from March 20 to 22, but strictly complying with medical and travel advisories issued by the Indian government, according to the Chairman of the event, Vicky Chandhok.
In a statement here today, Chandhok, who is also the president of the APRC Working Group, said: “To reiterate, next week’s South India Rally is very much on as per schedule. We are closely monitoring the situation arising out of the COVID-19 spread globally, and taking due precautions as per the directives of Union Health ministry.
“As Chairman of the event, it is my duty to stay in close contact with our team and medical advisors which is what we are doing. No spectators will be allowed into the Rally HQ areas and no gathering of people in a single place will be permitted.
“We have also communicated to all the participants, officials and stakeholders, urging them to take all precautions to stay safe and healthy.”
Chandhok said that the APRC segment will be exclusively for Indian nationals of the INRC who register for it. “Consequent to Government of India’s travel advisory prohibiting entry of foreign Nationals into India until April 15, and other factors, the APRC round here will be contested by Indian crews who thus will have an opportunity to win a FIA international trophy,” he said.
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Australian GP cancelled due to COVID-19
Melbourne, 13 March 2020: Following the confirmation that a member of the McLaren Racing Team has tested positive for COVID-19 and the team’s decision to withdraw from the Australian Grand Prix, Formula 1 and the FIA convened a meeting of the other nine team principals on Thursday evening. Those discussions concluded with a majority view of the teams that the race should not go ahead. Formula 1 and the FIA, with the full support of the Australian Grand Prix Corporation (AGPC) have therefore taken the decision that all Formula 1 activity for the Australian Grand Prix is cancelled.
We appreciate this is very disappointing news for the thousands of fans due to attend the race and all ticket holders will receive a full refund and a further announcement will be communicated in due course.
All parties took into consideration the huge efforts of the AGPC, Motorsport Australia, staff and volunteers to stage the opening round of the 2020 FIA Formula One World Championship in Melbourne, however concluded that the safety of all members of the Formula 1 family and the wider community, as well as the fairness of the competition take priority.China GP put off
Earlier, FIA announced that the Chinese GP is postponed. The Statement:
In view of the continued spread of novel coronavirus and after ongoing discussions with the Federation of Automobile and Motorcycle Sports of People’s Republic of China (CAMF) and Shanghai Administration of Sports, the Chinese Grand Prix Promoter, Juss Sports Group, has officially requested that the 2020 FIA Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix be postponed.
The FIA, together with the Formula 1, have jointly decided to accept this official request from the promoter and postpone the 2020 FIA Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix, originally scheduled for 19 April.
As a result of continued health concerns and with the World Health Organisation declaring the coronavirus as a global health emergency, the FIA and Formula 1 have taken these measures in order to ensure the health and safety of the travelling staff, championship participants and fans, which remains of primary concern.
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McLaren Racing withdraws from Australian GP
Melbourne, 12 March 2020: McLaren Racing has confirmed this evening in Melbourne that it has withdrawn from the 2020 Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix, following the positive test of a team member for the coronavirus. The team member was tested and self-isolated as soon as they started to show symptoms and will now be treated by local healthcare authorities.
The team has prepared for this eventuality and has ongoing support in place for its employee who will now enter a period of quarantine. The team is cooperating with the relevant local authorities to assist their investigations and analysis.
Zak Brown, CEO of McLaren Racing, and Andreas Seidl, Team Principal of McLaren F1, informed Formula 1 and the FIA of the decision this evening. The decision has been taken based on a duty of care not only to McLaren F1 employees and partners, but also to the team’s competitors, Formula 1 fans and wider F1 stakeholders.
