In a move that surprises nobody, World Superbike officials have confirmed the series’ upcoming race weekend in Qatar is off. Once again, the COVID-19 outbreak is to blame.
An announcement on the WSB website says the plan is to re-schedule the race for later in the year. As per below:
Lauretana Water Qatar Round to be rescheduled
External travel restrictions force postponement of Round 2 of the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship
The FIM and Dorna WSBK Organization regret to announce that the Lauretana Water Qatar Round of the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship is to be postponed until further notice.
As the global coronavirus outbreak continues, travel restrictions to Qatar have been enforced, primarily affecting passengers from Italy, amongst others. People arriving directly from the country or who have been in Italy in the past two weeks will be taken directly to quarantine for a minimum of 14 days.
Italian participation in WorldSBK – both on track and off – is vital, thus the decision has been taken to postpone the Lauretana Water Qatar Round until further notice.
Further updates will be published in due course.
Note the emphasis that it’s “external travel restrictions” behind this. Qatar’s 14-day quarantine over coronavirus fears has killed the GP season opener this weekend already, so it’s no shocker the March 13-15 races are also going to be postponed. And it’s not just Qatar, as Thailand also cancelled its upcoming MotoGP weekend due to COVID-19.
