MotoGP: Malaysian GP cancelled, replaced by second Misano race

MotoGP have announced that the Malaysian Grand Prix, scheduled to take place on 24 October, has been cancelled. 

The 2021 Malaysia Motorcycle Grand Prix has been cancelled for the second time in two years due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The news comes on the same day that the FIM Endurance World Championship announced the historic Suzuka Eight Hours would also be cancelled for the second year in succession.

MotoGP has not been to Malaysia since 2019, when Maverick Vinales won for Yamaha in the premier class race, while Brad Binder won the Moto2 race (Alex Marquez the Moto2 title on the same day) and Lorenzo Dalla Porta was victorious in Moto3, a week on from winning the Moto3 crown. 

MotoGP have announced that the Malaysia Motorcycle Grand Prix will be replaced with an extra round at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli due to take place on the same date as the Malaysian race, 24 October. That means that the calendar takes on an odd look, with the Grand Prix of the Americas, at the Circuit of the Americas in Texas, now sandwiched between two races at Misano: Misano #1 on 19 September; Texas on 3 October; and Misano #2 on 24 October. 

The calendar is certainly not final, though, and the race in Texas could yet still be cancelled, particularly if the COVID situation in that part of the world worsens, or if travel corridors between the US and European countries which hold significance in the MotoGP paddock become blocked.