The governing body of the worldwide motorsport, Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), has officially announced the cancellation of all FIA events in this year’s Macau Grand Prix event.
The decision affects three of the major headliners including the FIA World Touring Car Cup (WTCR), the FIA GT World Cup (GT), and the “Queen” of Macau’s races, the FIA Formula 3 World Cup (F3).
FIA confirmed the cancelation of these races at Wednesday’s meeting of the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC), which convened in Paris for the second time in 2022.
The meeting was hosted by FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem with FIA Deputy President for Sport, Robert Reid, and WMSC members joining in person and via video conference.
The reasons for the cancelation of the events are the “ongoing restrictions related to the Covid-19 pandemic,” the FIA said in a post-meeting statement, adding that such restrictions relate to “ongoing quarantine restrictions and associated logistical challenges in Asia.”
While the F3 and GT races are to be completely canceled and removed from this year’s sports calendar, the WTCR event is likely to be replaced, with races to take place in other locations, the FIA Touring Car Commission further explained.
Regarded by the FIA as the ultimate training ground and talent-spotting formula for the stars of tomorrow, the F3 race in Macau has been absent from the international racing panorama since 2019, when Dutch racer Richard Verschoor won the last race of this category hosted in Macau.
Macau not alone
In the statement from the FIA Touring Car Commission, the sub-division added that the event cancellation is not only restricted to Macau, but extends to Asia in general.
“Due to the ongoing quarantine restrictions and associated logistical challenges in Asia, rounds of WTCR – FIA World Touring Car Cup and FIA ETCR – eTouring Car World Cup that were set to take place on the continent will not be held this year,” the statement reads, without specifying which events are also facing cancellation.
It is known that the original calendar of the WTCR included three racing events in Asia, starting with the WTCR Race of Korea, to take place at Inje on October 7 to 9, followed by the Race of China to take place at Ningbo on November 4 to 6, closing with the season finale in Macau two weeks later.
It was also known that the WTCR race at Ningbo was the only international event planned for this year in China, as all events from other racing categories had been absent from the 2022 calendar due to restrictions imposed from the mainland following the Covid-19 “zero-case” policy in force in the country.
As the FIA statement also includes the ETCR, which only had one event scheduled for Inje, likely, events in South Korea are also affected, and the FIA is seeking to replace all three.
“Together with Discovery Sports Events, the promoter of the two series, the FIA is working towards securing replacement events. Further details on the new calendar additions will be communicated in due course,” the commission added.
