Marc Marquez will be aiming for his fifth championshjp title
Thursday 11 June 2020 12:58, UK
The MotoGP season, stalled by the coronavirus pandemic, will begin with back-to-back races at the Jerez circuit in Spain on July 19 and 26, the sport's governing bodies have confirmed.
Five circuits will host double-headers and there will be a total of seven races in Spain as part of the revised 13-round European calendar.
Eight races have been cancelled so far this season including the Qatar, Dutch, German, Finnish, British, Australian, Japanese and Italian rounds.
The third round will take place in the Czech Republic on August 9 before two races in Austria on August 16 and 23.
Misano will then host two rounds in September.
MotoGP said a minimum of 12 rounds would be held in the championship. The total number of races could increase to 17 with four outside Europe between November 22 and December 13.
The only long-haul races yet to be cancelled due to the pandemic are those in Thailand, Malaysia, the USA (Texas) and Argentina.
Those events and their dates will be confirmed before July 31, MotoGP added.
Moto2 and Moto3 were able to start their season in Qatar in March because they were already there for testing but MotoGP was unable to race due to quarantine restrictions.
The updated schedule:
July 19: Spanish Grand Prix
July 26: Grand Prix of Andalusia
Aug 9: Czech Grand Prix
Aug 16: Austrian Grand Prix
Aug 23: Styria Grand Prix
Sept 13: San Marino Grand Prix
Sept 20: Emilia Romagna Grand Prix
Sept 27: Catalan Grand Prix
Oct 11: French Grand Prix
Oct 18: Aragon Grand Prix
Oct 25: Teruel Grand Prix
Nov 8: European Grand Prix
Nov 15: Valencia Grand Prix
