Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on motorsport
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruption to motorsport across the world, mirroring its impact across all sports. Across the world and to varying degrees, events and competitions have been cancelled or postponed.
Australian Supercars
The Supercars Championship had planned to hold an event, the Melbourne 400 supporting the Australian Grand Prix. The event was cancelled the same time the Grand Prix was also cancelled. Although the Championship were seeking to hold a replacement event later in the year, it was ultimately not made up. The Supercars' Tasmania Super400 at Symmons Plains Raceway, the Auckland Super400 at Hampton Downs, and the Perth SuperNight at Wanneroo Raceway rounds were also postponed beyond June. The pandemic saw 23Red Racing withdraw from the championship as its primary sponsor, Milwaukee Tools, ended its deal with the team.A revised calendar was released on 17 May, with the events at Gold Coast and Newcastle dropped from the calendar and a second race at Bathurst to be held in February 2021. As well, the Melbourne 400 will still count as a round because practice and qualifying had taken place before the event was cancelled. The second race at Bathurst would ultimately not take place after a second revision on 19 June, with the Sydney SuperNight round being restored and acting as the season finale.
Supercars formed the All Stars Eseries to allow its drivers to compete against each other.
Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters
The Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters series postponed the start of its championship until July 2020.Drag racing
On March 12, the National Hot Rod Association suspended its season while some sportsman classes were already contesting the Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals; the sportsman classes already active at that time would finish their runs behind closed doors, while the professional and remaining sportsman classes were sent home.The season schedule was revised several times during the suspension, with the season eventually being shortened to nineteen events from the original twenty-four. As a result of these changes, with the current schedule revealed as of June 3, Las Vegas and Charlotte each saw their two events consolidated into one; the Virginia NHRA Nationals, Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals, Route 66 NHRA Nationals, NHRA Sonoma Nationals, MagicDry Organic Absorbent NHRA Northwest Nationals, and NHRA New England Nationals were removed from the schedule for the season; and two additional events were announced for Lucas Oil Raceway to relaunch the season from July 11 in order to compensate for cancelled events. The Dodge Mile-High NHRA Nationals and Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals were subsequently postponed on July 17, in conjunction with a third additional event at Lucas Oil Raceway added to the former's original dates.
Formula One
The early Formula One season was disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic. Prior to the start of the season, Ferrari and AlphaTauri expressed concern about the spread of the virus and its effect on the championship. Both teams are based in Italy, which has suffered one of the worst outbreaks of the virus outside China, and so both Ferrari and AlphaTauri were therefore concerned over the ability of their staff to leave a quarantine zone that was established in northern Italy. Ross Brawn, the managing director of the sport, announced that Grands Prix would not go ahead if a team were blocked from entering a host nation, but that events could go ahead if a team voluntarily chose not to enter a host nation. Races in Australia, Monaco and France were cancelled. The cancellation of the Monaco Grand Prix meant that 2020 would mark the first time since that the race has not been held. The Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Chinese, Canadian, Dutch, Spanish and Vietnam Grands Prix were postponed. Organizers of the Austrian, British and Hungarian Grands Prix were the first to announce that their races could go ahead, but run without spectators and with teams staffed by minimal personnel. The summer break shut down period—which includes mandatory factory closures as a cost-cutting measure—was also brought forward from August to March and April and was originally extended to three weeks, allowing for postponed races to be held in August.The sport had planned to overhaul its technical regulations for the championship in one of the largest changes in its seventy-year history. The pandemic prompted these changes to be postponed until, with teams required to enter their cars in the 2021 championship to minimise the financial stress placed on the teams. The sport had also planned to introduce a $175 million budget cap in 2021, which was later revised to $150 million. Teams called for further revisions to $100 million, arguing that the pandemic threatened the future of four of the ten teams.
In March 2020, some Formula One drivers entered virtual versions of several races dubbed "Not The GP". The races were hosted by Jean-Éric Vergne's Veloce Esports, in partnership with Formula One. The online races were contested by current and former Formula One drivers, like Lando Norris, Nicholas Latifi, Stoffel Vandoorne, Esteban Gutiérrez, Nico Hülkenberg, Johnny Herbert and Martin Brundle, as well as celebrities and other sportsmen. On 29 June 2020, ahead of Formula 1 season opening race in Austria, McLaren took a financial aid of £150m from the National Bank of Bahrain to mitigate the effect of coronavirus on the company.
A day prior to the British Grand Prix, Racing Point driver Sergio Pérez was confirmed to have tested positive for the virus following an inconclusive result earlier in the day, ruling him out of the race. Nico Hulkenberg was announced as his replacement.
Formula 2 and Formula 3
The Bahrain and Barcelona rounds of the FIA Formula 2 and Formula 3 Championships—a series of races for junior drivers that run in support of Formula 1 events—were postponed when the Bahrain and Spanish Grands Prix were postponed. The Monaco and Zandvoort Formula 2 rounds were cancelled when the Monaco and Dutch Grands Prix were cancelled and the Baku round cancelled when the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was cancelled; Formula 3 had not been scheduled to race in Monaco or Azerbaijan.Formula E
The Formula E championship for electric cars initially responded to the pandemic by postponing the Rome and Sanya ePrix. Planned races in Paris, Jakarta and Seoul were also postponed, prompting organisers to postpone the entire season by two months.On 17 June it was announced that the series would finish at the Tempelhof Airport Street Circuit with three double headers on three different layouts in August, and that the races in Rome, Sanya, Paris, Jakarta, Seoul and New York have been cancelled.
GT World Challenge Europe
The 3 Hours of Monza round of the 2020 GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup, scheduled for 19 April, was cancelled.IndyCar
The IndyCar Series initially announced on 12 March that it would hold the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg — the opening race of the 2020 season — behind closed doors. On 13 March, the series announced that it would cancel all races through at least the end of April, including St. Petersburg, Alabama, Long Beach, and Austin. IndyCar intended to begin the season with the traditional "Month of May" races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, including the GMR Grand Prix, and the 104th running of the Indianapolis 500 on its traditional Memorial Day Sunday date. IndyCar formed the IndyCar iRacing Challenge, with its drivers racing against one another on the iRacing racing simulation game.On 26 March, IndyCar announced that it would postpone the two Indianapolis races to later in the season—moving the GMR Grand Prix to the Fourth of July as support for the NASCAR Cup Series' Brickyard 400, and the 500 to 23 August—marking the first time in history that it has not been held in May. Therefore, the season was to tentatively begin with the Detroit Grand Prix. The Grand Prix of St. Petersburg was reinstated as the planned season finale, with a date to be determined. On 6 April, IndyCar announced that the Detroit Grand Prix had been canceled. To make up for other canceled races, it was announced that a third race at Indianapolis would be added to the schedule in October, and that the Iowa 300 and Monterey Grand Prix would become twin race weekends with two points-paying races each.
On 7 May, IndyCar officially announced that the season would begin 6 June with the Genesys 300 at Texas Motor Speedway, with races held with limited spectators and with enhanced safety protocols until further notice. To accommodate same-day qualifying and practice, the race was shortened from its usual 245-lap distance to 200 laps. Although track owner Eddie Gossage originally insisted that he would not allow the race to be held unless as support for a NASCAR event, he later came to terms with new series owner Roger Penske. On 21 May, IndyCar announced the cancellation of the Honda Indy Toronto and Indy Richmond 300 events due to local restrictions, and that the REV Group Grand Prix at Road America would become a twin-race weekend and assume Toronto's date on the schedule.
On 1 June, IndyCar announced that the 2020 season of its developmental Indy Lights circuit had been scrapped because of logistics and a lack of entries. On 8 June, Penske stated his preference for the Indianapolis 500 to not be held behind closed doors, and that he would be willing to delay the event to October if state restrictions are not sufficiently loosened by August. On 26 June, IndyCar and IMS announced that the 500 would be held with spectators, limited to half of its normal capacity.
MotoGP
The MotoGP World Championship cancelled the opening round of the 2020 championship in Qatar. The Moto2 and Moto3 support categories raced in the country, as the teams were already in Qatar for their final preseason test before the quarantine measures were put in place. Planned events in Thailand, the United States, and Argentina were also postponed, but were initially rescheduled to 4 October, 15 and 22 November respectively. The races at Jerez, Le Mans, and Catalunya were also postponed, but later rescheduled to 19 July, 27 September, and 11 October respectively, while the Mugello, Sachensring, Assen, Silverstone, Phillip Island, Motegi, and Kymi Ring rounds were removed.AMA Supercross Championship
The AMA Supercross Live Series postponed its scheduled race card at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis just before it was to occur on 14 March. On 25 March, officials announced the postponement of six more events. The cards - consisting of the 450cc class and one of two 250cc classes each - were rescheduled for seven consecutive dates between 31 May and 21 June. All of them occurred behind closed doors at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City, Utah.NASCAR
Prior to the 2020 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, part of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR announced that no fans would be permitted to attend the race; this event, along with the Dixie Vodka 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, were later postponed. On 16 March, NASCAR announced that all race events through 3 May were postponed, however they still intend to run all 36 races for the season. On 17 April, NASCAR announced that it had postponed the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500, but that they still intend to run a full schedule of 36 races. NASCAR began to organize invitational eSports events on iRacing, the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series.On 30 April 2020, NASCAR announced that it would resume races in a modified schedule, with seven events across its three national series at Darlington Raceway and Charlotte Motor Speedway from 17–27 May. NASCAR stated that it still planned to run its full schedule of races, but that where events would be held beyond these May races was subject to change, with a tentative plan to focus primarily on "classic" tracks in the Southeastern United States. NASCAR announced the next set of races on 14 May, formally cancelling originally-scheduled races in late-May and early-June, and shifting postponed or rescheduled events in their place at Bristol Motor Speedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Martinsville, Homestead-Miami, and Talladega Superspeedway. On 2 June, NASCAR announced the third phase of the revised schedule through early-August, including a mid-week NASCAR All-Star Race on 15 July at Charlotte, and a Thursday race at Kansas Speedway.
The Cup Series returned with The Real Heroes 400 on 17 May, followed by a rare Wednesday-night race, the Toyota 500 on 20 May. The Xfinity Series returned on 19 May with the Toyota 200, while all three series raced their regularly-scheduled Memorial Day weekend events at Charlotte Motor Speedway. In the Cup Series, this included two events — the 60th running of the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday, and the 500 kilometer Alsco Uniforms 500 on the following Wednesday.
The first wave of races was held behind closed doors with only essential staff present and team sizes capped at 16, physical distancing requirements for garages and spotters, additional protective equipment for drivers and pit crew members, random temperature checks and removal of symptomatic team members, and requiring teams to perform contact tracing logs. To reduce on-track activity, all events are being held without qualifying or practice sessions, and starting order is determined by either a random draw, or the finishing order from the previous race with the top 20 inverted. Due to there being no practice sessions, an extended competition caution will be thrown within the first stage of the each race, in order to allow for extended adjustments of vehicles.
On 9 June, NASCAR announced that a limited number of spectators would be admitted at the Dixie Vodka 400 and GEICO 500. The Miami race featured 1,000 members of the U.S. military from the South Florida area, and the Talladega race was capped at 5,000 spectators in the grandstand and backstretch camping, with priority given to local ticketholders. On 3 July, Jimmie Johnson reported that he had tested positive for COVID-19, requiring him to use Justin Allgaier as a substitute driver for that weekend's 2020 Brickyard 400. Johnson was asymptomatic, and was cleared on 8 July after two further tests came back negative.
On 8 July, NASCAR announced the remaining schedule of races through the end of the regular season in late-August, including twin races at Dover International Speedway and Michigan International Speedway, and the race at Watkins Glen International being replaced by inaugural road course races at Daytona due to New York state travel restrictions. NASCAR stated that more upcoming races may be held with spectators on a case-by-case basis depending on local health orders, with Texas Motor Speedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and the new Daytona race planning to do so. The 2020 NASCAR All-Star Race was held at Bristol Motor Speedway on 15 July instead of in Charlotte so that it could host limited spectators. Capped at 30,000, or approximately 20% of the venue's total capacity of 162,000, it was the largest number of spectators at any U.S. sporting event since the beginning of pandemic restrictions.
TCR Touring Car Racing
Almost all TCR championships have been affected by the outbreak, resulting in complete calendar changes, race postponements and cancellations. These include: TCR Australia, TCR Asia Pacific Cup, TCR Germany, TCR UK, TCR Japan, TCR Italy, TCR Scandinavia, TCR Denmark, TCR Asia, TCR China, TCR Europe, and TC America.World Endurance Championship
The 1000 Miles of Sebring race was canceled. The 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps and the 24 Hours of Le Mans were both postponed.World Rally Championship
The 2020 running of Rally Argentina, Rally Italia Sardegna and Rally de Portugal were postponed, with Portugal later announced to be cancelled. The Safari Rally in Kenya, Rally Finland, Wales Rally GB and Rally New Zealand were also cancelled. The 2020 Rally Mexico was shortened to allow competitors time to pack their equipment up and return to their headquarters in Europe before a series of travel bans were implemented. The World Rally Championship-2, World Rally Championship-3 and Junior World Rally Championship support categories were also affected by the postponements.On 2 July a revised calendar was issued, with the addition of a new event in Estonia and Rally Argentina being cancelled.
World Rallycross Championship
The opening rounds of the 2020 FIA World Rallycross Championship in Barcelona and Portugal were postponed.World Touring Car Cup
The opening rounds of the 2020 World Touring Car Cup in Hungary and Germany were cancelled. The four races that would have been held across the two rounds were rescheduled for other rounds.Motorcycle road racing
The 2020 Isle of Man TT and Scottish Six Days Trial were cancelled. The 2020 North West 200 event was postponed and subsequently cancelled.British national-level championships
All British motorsport, including the British Touring Car Championship, the British GT Championship, and the Britcar Endurance and Trophy Championships. were postponed until July 2020.Monster trucks
events in multiple localities were affected. Shows in Austin, Texas, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Cincinnati, Ohio, Detroit, Michigan, Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Hidalgo, Texas were postponed; and shows in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Columbus, Ohio, Colorado Springs, Colorado, Denver, Colorado, Columbia, South Carolina, Des Moines, Iowa, Evansville, Indiana, Green Bay, Wisconsin, Hamilton, Ontario, Huntsville, Alabama, Kansas City, Missouri, and Vancouver were cancelled.On 27 March 2020, World Finals XXI, scheduled to take place 2–3 May 2020, was canceled.
Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Live postponed a show in Louisville, Kentucky.
Monster X Tour postponed its World Finals event in Honolulu, Hawaii.