FRENCH GP TO BE CANCELED AS PRESIDENT MACRON SAYS “NO MASS GATHERINGS”

 
 
The chances of the 2020 French MXGP race being held on its June 28 date are about as bad as for its original May 10th date. French president Emmanuel Macron extended France’s ban on mass gatherings until at least mid-July. This spells bad news for the Tour de France, the French Formula 1 GP and the French Motocross GP—because they all fall in that window of time. There is a slim chance that the coronavirus situation will improve in France and president Macron will reverse his decision.

Macron said, “Places where people gather, restaurants, cafes, hotels, cinemas, theatres, concert halls and museums, will remain closed. Big festivals and events with large public gatherings cannot take place before mid-July at the earliest. The situation will be evaluated collectively from mid-May, every week, to adapt things and give you visibility.”

The French Motocross Grand Prix was originally scheduled for May 10th, but that date was backed up to June 28th, when it took the date of the Indonesian Grand Prix, which backed out of the June date and moved to November 1st. There are five GPs that have been rescheduled to October and November. Now it looks like the rescheduled French MX GP will have to be rescheduled for a second time. No word on what what the date may be, but if it would have to move past the month of July to August at the soonest (and the only weekend in August that does not have a GP scheduled is August 30th). September has no open dates, with the only questionable race being the Motocross des Nations on September 27—it is also in France and could be rescheduled, since instead of at the end of the 2020 MXGP season, it is now between regular GP races. The best guess is that the rescheduled French GP would have to be scheduled on October 3.

This can get messy before an actual MXGP schedule is finalized. The Russian GP is currently scheduled for June 7 could be an iffy race—and if it has to be rescheduled that could require a restructuring of the 2020 schedule to make room for both France and Russia.  Expect a new Grand Prix schedule soon, but you can see all the changes that happened after only two races were held in the color coded chart below.

ALL THE 2020 MXGP RACE SCHEDULE CHANGES
Mar. 1…Great Britain (Held)
Mar. 8…Holland (Held)
Mar. 22…Argentina (Moved to Nov. 22)
Apr. 5…Italy (Moved to July 19)
Apr. 19…Spain (Moved to October 11)
Apr. 26…Portugal (Moved to October 18)
May 10…France (Moved to June 28)
May 17…Italy (Moved to July 5)
May 24…Germany (Moved to August 9)
June 7…Russia
June 14…Latvia
June 28…France (Rescheduled from May 10 & Jakarta, Indonesia, moved to November 1—then the June 28 French GP was canceled)
July 5…Maggiora, Italy (Rescheduled from April 5 & second Indonesian GP moved to November 8)
July 19…Trentino, Italy (Rescheduled from April 5)
July 26…Czech Republic
Aug. 2…Belgium
Aug. 9…Germany (Rescheduled from May 24)
Aug. 16…Sweden
Aug. 23…Finland
Sept. 6.…Turkey
Sept. 13…Shanghai, China
Sept. 20…Italy
Oct. 11..Arroyomolinos, Spain (Rescheduled from April 19)
Oct. 18…Agueda, Portgual (Rescheduled from April 26)
Nov. 1…Jakarta, Indonesia (Rescheduled from June 28)
Nov. 8…TBA, Indonesia (Rescheduled from July 5)
Nov. 22…Neuquen, Argentina (Rescheduled from March 22)