Motorsport News

After a challenging few months, the world is finally going back to normalcy or at least a new normal that follows a number of protocols post the Coronavirus pandemic. This has also seen the world of motorsport go back into action and the latest championship to announce its return is MotoGP. The premier-class motorcycle championship has announced its revised calendar for 2020 that will now take place between July and December. The season this year will comprise 17 races with four races outside of Europe to be officially confirmed by the end of July 2020. Meanwhile, the first 13 races have been confirmed dates, as announced by the FIM (Federation Internationale de Motocyclisme).

The Dakar Rally returns in 2021 and the organisers have now announced the dates, route and the new list of rules for the challenging motorsport event. The Dakar Rally heads back to Saudi Arabia for the second year in a row and will continue to be held within the country, as opposed to plans of expanding it to other Middle East countries including Jordan, Egypt and the UAE. The 43rd edition will be held between January 3 to 15, 2021, and registrations for the Dakar will begin on June 15, 2020. Here's everything that's new with the Dakar Rally for next year.

Formula E driver Pascal Wehrlein has announced his departure from Mahindra Racing, a day after finishing as a runner-up in the Race At Home virtual racing challenge. The announcement though comes midway in the 2019-20 Formula E season with the races temporarily suspended due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Wehrlein's exit from the team will be with immediate effect, and it is understood that the driver will not race for the team in the remainder of the campaign, should the races resume once again. While the German-Mauritian did not announce his future plans, speculations suggest that the 25-year-old driver is making his way to the Porsche outfit next year in Formula E.

The tracks in Greater and Chennai have resumed operations after staying shut for the last 3 months owing to the Coronavirus lockdown.

The first-ever Formula E Race At Home Challenge concluded this weekend and the eSports championship saw Mercedes-Benz EQ's Stoffel Vandoorne claim the win in the first season of the championship. After six high octane rounds, the championship headed into a doubleheader weekend with the New York e-Prix as the digital circuit for the racers. All Formula E teams with their drivers competed for the top spot with Mercedes-Benz and Mahindra Racing competed for the championship title.

Agra-based karting champion, Shahan Ali Mohsin has been nominated by the Federation of Motor Sport Clubs of India (FMSCI) for the 2020 Arjuna Award. Shahan's name is the third nomination to be submitted by the federation, which earlier announced the names of rally racers CS Santosh and Aishwarya Pissay for the highest honour in sports in the country. A young racer aged 15 years, Shahan has had an illustrious career as a karting racer having participated and won several national and international championships over the years.

Several manufacturers have rolled out innovative ways to contribute towards improving nature on World Environment Day and Mahindra Racing has announced its innovative new initiative for the same. The motorsport arm of the automaker has announced that it will plant a tree for every view on Twitch during the Race At Home challenge finale this weekend. The Race At Home challenge is an esports competition that will conduct its final two rounds this weekend. The virtual racing program was initiated earlier this year during the red flag period in Formula E Season 6 due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

The Coronavirus pandemic has forced several motorsport series to be either postponed or cancelled altogether and the latest casualty is the W Series. The all-women single-seater championship has been forced to cancel for 2020 because of the COVID-19 crisis, but the organisers have announced that the championship will return in a "bigger and better" way in 2021. W Series had its inaugural series in 2019 and saw Williams development driver Jamie Chadwick being crowned as the first-ever champion. The second season was set to begin in May this year but was indefinitely postponed. Earlier this week, organisers confirmed that the championship will be put on hold until 2021.