French Motogp postponed over coronavirus outbreak

PARIS: The French Motogp, initially scheduled for May 15-17 in Le Mans, has been postponed because of the “ongoing coronavirus outbreak”, organisers announced on Thursday.

“As the situation remains in a state of constant evolution, new dates for the French GP and the recently-postponed Gran Premio Red Bull de Espana cannot be confirmed until it becomes clearer when exactly it will be possible to hold the events,” the international motorcycling federation said.

A revised calendar will be published as soon as available, it added.

The French Motogp is the latest sporting casualty of the coronavirus pandemic and follows the cancellation of the elite category season-opening Motogp in Qatar.

The next three legs of the 2020 calendar in Thailand, Texas and Argentina have also been put on ice, with Dorna, the series promoter, hoping to run them in the second half of a truncated season.

Dorna has already said it will push back the end of the season two weeks to Nov. 29.

Meanwhile, Italian Motogp rider Andrea Iannone has been banned for 18 months after testing positive for anabolic steroids, the international motorcycling federation (FIM) announced on Wednesday.

Iannone, 30, tested positive in a urine sample collected at an in-competition test at the Malaysian Motogp in Sepang on November 3.

An FIM disciplinary hearing imposed a ban from December 17, 2019 to June 16, 2021.

Iannone’s team Aprilia said they would be appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) as the FIM had recognised the possibility of food contamination.

“On the one hand they recognise my innocence, because they speak of involuntary contamination, but we lost because I was sentenced,” Iannone told Sky Sport Italia.

“But it could have been worse, now we will immediately resort to CAS to try to get back in the saddle as soon as possible.”

Iannone was disqualified from the final two rounds of the 2019 season in Malaysia and Valencia, but remained 16th in the standings on 43 points, as he failed to finish both races.

“The sentence leaves us baffled by the punishment imposed on Andrea but also very satisfied,” Aprilia Racing CEO Massimo Rivola said in a statement.

“The judges recognised Andrea’s total good faith in confirming the thesis of food contamination.