No fans at Jerez for MotoGP season-openers

No fans will be present during MotoGP's season-opening races at Jerez on July 19 and 26.

Jerez City Council recently announced they would seek a meeting with Dorna and the Andalusian Government to explore the possibility of having a limited number of spectators at the back-to-back MotoGP rounds, plus the following WorldSBK event.

That meeting has now taken place, where the three parties "unanimously agreed" to keep the races behind closed doors.

A press release by the local government added: "Different factors have been analysed to make the decision, including [crowd] capacity limitations, which would be reduced to a third to comply with the [social distancing] requirements to avoid new infections and with it a possible outbreak of COVID-19."

Allowing the public to be present would also involve "a significant extra cost for the organisation and the Circuit".

Instead, "all parties agreed that in the current circumstances efforts should focus on guaranteeing the safety of the teams and personnel, the continuity of the competition, avoiding [crowd] concentrations and… projecting the best image of Jerez, the province of Cádiz and Andalusia in these important sporting events."

The decision is not a surprise given the fate of the 2020 season could well depend on MotoGP proving it can hold two safe events at Jerez, where the sport's strict new safety protocol will be used for the first time. Allowing fans would only introduce another potential risk factor.

Jerez thus joins Catalunya in ruling out spectators this year but other circuits such as Misano, Le Mans and Valencia hope that if government coronavirus restrictions continue to be relaxed some fans will be able to attend.

The future of the four to-be-confirmed flyaways depends on the presence of fans, for cost reasons.