MotoGP Set for 13-Round European Return

The MotoGP World Championship us set for a return to racing in July, featuring between 13 and 17 races to make up the 2020 season. 

On 19 July, the MotoGP World Championship will head to Jerez for the Spanish Grand Prix and the opening race of the 2020 season. This will mark the first time since 2006 that the MotoGP season opened in Andalucia.

One week after the season opening race in Jerez, it will play host to the second race of the season, the Grand Prix of Andalucia – the region of Spain where the Jerez circuit sits – and this will set the tone for the rest of the schedule. 

Two weeks after the Andalucian round, the series will head to the Czech Republic and the Brno circuit for round three, for the first of a triple header. The second two rounds of that triple header will be held in Austria at the Red Bull Ring, the first race being titled the Austrian Grand Prix, the second called the Grand Prix of Styria. 

Misano, and the Rimini Riviera will be the fourth location on this European-centric tour, three weeks after the second Austrian race, with the Grand Prix di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini being round six of the 2020 season, before the Grand Prix di Emilia Romagna e della Riviera di Rimini, also at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, takes place one week later. 

The championship will then move back to Spain, and to the Circuit de Catalunya for the Catalonian round, one week after the second Misano race, and two weeks before the championship heads to Le Mans for what will likely be a very cold French Grand Prix on 11 October. 

After this brief stop in France, it’s back to Spain, and MotorLand Aragon for round ten – the Grand Prix of Aragon. The paddock will stay put once more for round eleven, also in Aragon, which will be called the Grand Prix of Teruel, which is the province in which MotorLand is located within Spain. 

The twelfth and, provisionally, penultimate stop on the tour will be the European Grand Prix, slated to be held in Valencia on 8 November, before the Valencian Grand Prix one week later, which is currently set to be the season finale. 

There is still currently scope for this schedule to change, and there could be more, less or precisely the same amount of rounds currently scheduled by the time we get to 31 July. This date is important because the four circuits being currently considered but as yet without a confirmed date for a GP – those circuits being the Circuit of the Americas, Termas de Rio Hondo, the Sepang International Circuit and the Buriram International Circuit – will either have a date by 31 July, or will be cancelled by this date. 

Of course, even as the year moves on past this 31 July deadline for these four circuits, it is possible that circumstances could change, hence this calendar remains entirely provisional – in fact, each race on this calendar will be provisional pretty much until the motorcycles are on the race track, and maybe even until after that point.

But, for the moment at least, it looks like MotoGP fans will be getting 13 rounds of racing in just four months, which from a team’s perspective is no doubt quite daunting, although for the fans it will likely be welcomed after such a long period without the sport. 

Additionally, the MotoE World Cup will have four rounds: two in Jerez, one in Misano and the fourth and final race of its 2020 season will take place in Le Mans. 

Finally, the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup will have a six-round series spread over three tracks, with two rounds at each. The Rookies Cup will first race in Austria, before heading to MotorLand and finally Valencia.