MotoGP: Dorna boss Ezpeleta talks about the Coronavirus plans: 'We will race at Christmas if we have to and GPs run behind closed doors might happen!'

So here’s quite the set of quotes from Carmelo Ezpeleta, Dorna boss (basically the head honcho of MotoGP) about the impacts of the Coronavirus and how it will/could/might continue to disrupt the MotoGP calendar this year.

There’s already been some upheaval in MotoGP plans with this weekend’s opening round of the MotoGP championship being cancelled in Qatar – although the Moto2 and Moto3 race are still going ahead in the desert because those smaller classes are already out there following test days – the second round of the MotoGP championship at Buriram in Thailand has also been moved in the calendar until later this year.

And now Ezpeleta has said that the possibilities for even more shifting around are being planned including the most drastic shift in the year’s schedule ever seen in MotoGP.

He said: “It may not be a normal championship, but for us it is very important to maintain the integrity of the calendar and the carry out as many races as possible during the season.

“We will run at least 13 races but our goal is to run all 19 races still on the program and there are possibilities for that to happen.

“If necessary, we also run at Christmas in the warmer countries.

“It is our duty to carry out as many races as possible and we will try to do that. We are alos ready to cancel the awards ceremony on November 22 because the most important this is to run the races. “

Ezpeleta also said that we could see a situation develop whereby fans are completely excluded from trackside, adding: “The possibility of GPs being run behind closed doors is not to be excluded, everything is possible.

“The most important thing is to make good arrangements for everything.”