MotoGP has announced the cancellation of the 2021 Japanese Grand Prix and a subsequent replacement event.
The world championship was due to head to Motegi on October 1-3 but that trip has been scrapped for the second consecutive year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas will take its place on the same weekend, that event at Circuit of the Americas in Austin having previously been postponed.
As a flow-on effect of the move, the Grand Prix of Thailand has been shifted back a week to the new dates of October 15-17.
On the Japanese cancellation, a statement read in part: “The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and resulting travel complications and logistical restrictions mean that it has not been possible to confirm the event at this time, meaning that it will therefore not feature on the 2021 calendar.
“The FIM MotoGP™ Championship looks forward to returning to race in front of the Japanese fans at their home Grand Prix in 2022.”
Next up on the calendar is the Dutch TT this weekend at Assen.