As the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak continues to impact daily life, it’s brought worldwide motorsports to a halt.
Virtually every racing series in the world has ceased competition -- several indefinitely – since the past weekend because of the global pandemic.
With the Centers for Disease Control recommending that events of more than 50 people be put on hold for eight weeks, it could leave more races in jeopardy with more news likely coming this week.
Here’s what several series and tracks have done with cancellations and postponements and what we know about what lies ahead with each:
IMSA: The Twelve Hours of Sebring has been postponed from the March 18-21 weekend to Nov. 11-14. Because it falls after the Petit Le Mans, Sebring will become the 2020 season finale for the sports car series (along with the Michelin Pilot Challenge and Prototype Challenge.
The 24 Hours of Le Mans, which has attracted some of IMSA’s best teams in the past and should become more of a crossover event in the future, has been postponed from June to Sept. 19-20.
Petit Le Mans slid back from Oct. 7-10 to Oct. 14-17. The Laguna Seca Raceway event was moved from Sept. 11-13 to Sept. 4-6 to accommodate the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The May 1-3 race weekend at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course has been postponed to Sept. 25-27.
IMSA’s next event is scheduled to be the Detroit Grand Prix at Belle Isle Raceway in Detroit on May 29-30.
INDYCAR: The first eight races of 2020 have been canceled or postponed, most notably the 104th Indianapolis 500 that has been moved to Aug. 23.
The GMR Grand Prix on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course was moved to July 4 as the first doubleheader with a NASCAR event (the Xfinity Series race will follow IndyCar). The 2020 season will begin June 6 at Texas Motor Speedway with the cancellation of the Detroit Grand Prix.
Despite efforts to reschedule the Long Beach Grand Prix from April 17-19 to the fall, the race was canceled March 18. IndyCar’s season opener at St. Petersburg, Florida, will be made up at a date to be determined and becomes the season finale. Circuit of the Americas (which has been reduced to “limited use”) and Barber Motorsports Park won’t return to the schedule.
IndyCar also has banned testing through May 10.
MOTOGP: The Moto2 and Moto3 classes ran their season openers March 8 at the Qatar Grand Prix, but the premier division was canceled. MotoGP has yet to return to the track as the first nine races in the premier series have been canceled or postponed to later in the year, most recently Italy and Spain.
The Thailand Grand Prix was moved from March 22 to Oct. 4. The Grand Prix of the Americas in Austin, Texas, was shifted from April 5 to Nov. 15. The Argentina Grand Prix moved from April 19 to Nov. 22. The rescheduled races also forced the season finale at Valencia, Spain, to move from Nov. 15 to Nov. 29.
NASCAR: After running its first four races of the season, the Cup Series now has postponed the next seven races -- Atlanta, Miami, Texas, Bristol, Richmond, Talladega and Dover.
It intends to restart the 2020 season with the May 9 race at Martinsville Speedway and reschedule the seven events to maintain the integrity of a 36-race schedule. No makeup dates have been set.
NASCAR also announced a full testing ban during the hiatus.
SUPERCROSS/MOTOCROSS: With 10 of 17 races completed, the 2020 season was postponed March 13. The series announced March 25 that the final seven events will be completed at dates and tracks to be finalized.
However, these seven races have been canceled: Indianapolis on March 14; Detroit on March 21; Seattle on March 28; Denver on April 4; Foxboro on April 18; Las Vegas on April 25 and May 2 at Salt Lake City.
The Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championships also has canceled its season opener, the Hangtown Nationals and reorganized the remainder of its 2020 schedule.
FORMULA ONE: The March 15 season opener in Australia was canceled, along with the Grand Prix of Monaco on May 24. The next five races (Bahrain, Vietnam, China, the Netherlands and Spain) have been postponed indefinitely. The June 7 grand prix in Azerbaijan also has been postponed, as has the June 14 race at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal.
The season currently would begin June 28 with the French Grand Prix.
NHRA: The sanctioning body has suspended all drag racing events for the next 30 days and has shortened its 2020 schedule from 24 to 19 events while canceling the playoffs this season.
The season will resume June 5-7 with the 51st annual Gatornationals, which were rescheduled after a March 13-15 postponement.
WORLD ENDURANCE CHAMPIONSHIP: After running its Feb. 23 race at Circuit of the Americas, the WEC canceled its March 20 event at Sebring International Raceway. Its next event is scheduled for April 25 at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium.
AMERICAN FLAT TRACK: The Daytona 200 was rescheduled from last weekend to October. The next race is scheduled to be March 28 in Woodstock, Georgia.
WORLD OF OUTLAWS: All races through April 18 have been postponed on Sprint Car Series’ spring tour of California. Another update is expected this week. The series also has postponed Dirt Late Models through next week.
PIKES PEAK INTERNATIONAL HILL CLIMB: The 98th running of the iconic event in Colorado has been moved from June 28 to Aug. 30.
FORMULA E: The series reportedly has suspended the next two months of its 2020-21 season.
DIRT TRACKS: Williams Grove Speedway has canceled programs for its second week after holdingits March 13 opening day, and other dirt tracks are following suit.