Truck racing and Corona - Round 1 at the Hungaroring postponed

14. March 2020The singular topic of discussion all over the world this last week was, without doubt, the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. It’s been top of mind for the truck racers too. The 2020 season of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship, scheduled to kick off at the Hungaroring in six weeks, has been postponed. The new dates, subject to FIA approval, are 13 and 14 June, the weekend following the round at the Slovakia Ring.
The Easter pre-season test week at Autodrom Most also stands cancelled, even though there’s been more interest this year than ever for this now traditional first annual gathering of the truck racers – 14 teams with 17 trucks had registered. What’s more, the new data logging system mandated by the FIA WMSC was to have been tested at Most. In any case, the virus situation is fluid and nobody’s willing or able to commit to anything.
As things stand, the season should start at the Misano World Circuit on the fourth weekend of May, just like last year. But given that no region of Europe is as badly affected by the coronavirus as northern Italy, it’s of course not sure that it will.
One thing, though, has to be recorded here – the report on a fake Truck Grand Prix Facebook page about the cancellation of the event in mid-July is totally false. There are still four months to go for the TGP. According to leading virologists, we could be well over the worst of the crisis by then.