President of the MotoGP teams association and boss of the Tech 3 team Hervé Poncharal says that the future of the series does not look very bright.
“I like to always be positive,” Poncharal told Motorsport Magazine. “But the world is going through a very tough time. We are in the shit because we have no idea what’s going to happen in the near future and we have no idea what the 2020 season will be.
“For 2020 the future doesn’t look very bright.”
The MotoGP season has already seen its first nine rounds of the championship be either cancelled or postponed. The Dutch Grand Prix from Assen is currently pencilled in to host the season-opener on June 28, but strict government travel restrictions have put this round in doubt.
Poncharal confirmed that the MotoGP manufacturers association (MSMA) are holding weekly teleconferences to discuss the 2020 calendar and how teams will survive the economic aftershocks from the virus pandemic.
Earlier this week the series announced a freeze on all engine and aerodynamic developments for both the 2020 and 2021 season in a bid to nail down ways to cut costs.
But despite acknowledging that the current state of the championship is on a knife’s edge, Poncharal is still hopeful that a least ten races can go ahead this year.
“My big dream is still to have ten races this year, unfortunately behind closed doors.
“But if we only have six that will be enough to show that MotoGP is alive and kicking. There is no minimum number of races…”
KTM motorsport director Pit Beirer has also accepted that the 2020 season will likely start behind closed doors but said that that is far from the long-term solution as racing without spectators is drivel.
“I think we can survive for a short while with no fans, but going racing is all about fighting to get good results and then getting that great feedback from the fans,” he said.
“We need to survive this period and then come back to normal, because we need spectators, otherwise the sport doesn’t make sense.”