Hungaroring season opener cancelled
The World Touring Car Cup promoters Eurosport Events today announced that the Hungaroring season opener on April 24-26 has been cancelled following measures taken by the Hungarian government due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The Hungarian government has banned public gatherings of more than 500 people until further notice.
To maintain the 20-race schedule planned for the WTCR season, the qualifying and two races planned for the Hungaroring has been moved to within the race weekend at MotorLand Aragón in Spain on July 3-5.
Eurosport Events is currently monitoring the situation in Germany and Slovakia where the following two WTCR rounds are planned to be held, at the Nürburgring (May 21-23) and Slovakiaring (June 5-7) respectively.
Should those races be cancelled as well, Eurosport Events would propose to the FIA to add a third race on the following WTCR race weekends in Portugal, Austria, China or South Korea in order to maintain the 20 races of the 2020 season.
The following statement was issued today:
Eurosport Events, promoter of the WTCR – FIA World Touring Car Cup, in consultation with the FIA, Hungaroring Sport Zrt and MNASZ, the Hungarian ASN, regretfully announces the cancellation of WTCR Race of Hungary, originally scheduled for 24-26 April 2020.
The decision is the result of Hungarian government measures taken in response to the coronavirus outbreak which bans public gatherings of more than 500 people until further notice.
While cancelling events is not an easy decision nor a preferred course of action, health and safety factors remain the absolute priority and there will be no compromise on this. It is unfortunately not possible to reschedule WTCR Race of Hungary 2020 to a later date.
The 2020 season opener was originally planned to be held in Marrakech, Morocco, but was cancelled at the beginning of February due to the exit of local driver Mehdi Benanni from the series.
