[kropotkin thinks...] - Motegi Round Canceled As MotoGP Prepares For A European Season

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After last week's announcements that the Silverstone and Phillip Island MotoGP rounds were canceled, today, the Japanese round of MotoGP joined the list of cancellations. The race at Motegi has been called off, and will not take place this year, despite the importance of the race to the Japanese manufacturers.

Today's announcement was the last step in a general clearing out of the schedule to allow for a calendar of races which could feasibly be held for 2020. The plan, as Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta pointed out in the press release, is to do as many races in Europe as possible, and only heading overseas after that, if international travel is still possible. "For this reason, the FIM and Dorna, in consultation with IRTA and MSMA, have decided that, until mid-November, MotoGP will remain in Europe to do as many European MotoGP events as we are able to. Therefore, overseas events, if at all possible, should be scheduled after mid-November – which would be too late in the year for the Motul Grand Prix of Japan to be held," Ezpeleta is quoted as saying.