Reports from Thailand suggest the government is now considering postponing the Buriram roundꦰ of the MotoGP World Championship, for the second year in succession.

The MotoGP event is currently due to be held on October 15-17, coinciding with a plan to open some part❀s of the country to entry without quarantine for vaccinated foreign tourists.

However, Thailan🔜d is currently experiencing a record nu💮mber of Covid 19 cases and resulting restrictions which, combined with a sluggish vaccination program, has put the October re-opening in doubt.

As such, and with the MotoGP event not ecumenically viable without spectators, reports that the Thai Ministry of Tourism and Sports 💟are now considering postponing the grand prix until 2022.

After joining the MotoGP calen🌌dar in 2018, the 2019 Thai round saw the highest spectator attendance of the season with 226,655 weekend fans, bringing in a total of 3.45 billion baht (95 million euros). Last year's round, like all the non-European events, was cancelled.

Should Buriram withdraw from the 2021 calendar it will also cast doubt on the neighbouring Malaysian event at Sepang, d💝ue to be held the following weekend, since it would not make economic sense for MotoGP to fly to Asia for only one race weekend.

The other possibility, should Thailand postpone, is that Sepang could host a back-to-back double header. MotoGP could follow a proposed plan for the (cancelled) Sepang pre-se🧔ason test, whereby the whole would paddock remain in hotels near Kuala Lumpur International airport and only be allowed to travel back and forth to the nearby circuit.

However, a grand prix would require such 'sealed' accommodation and movement for the Moto2 and Moto3 classes꧃ as well as MotoGP, while Malaysia is also fighting a similar Covid surge to Thailand at present, including a strict lockdown in the Sepang area, meaning the major hurdle of making event(s) viable without spectators would remain.

Should Buriram and Sepang be lost MotoGPꦦ is likely to try and retain ev✅ent numbers by adding more back-to-back events at the remaining European rounds or, as in the case of Portimao, making a return visit to circuits used earlier in the season.

The only non-European MotoGP events so far held since the start of the pandemic are the 2021 seas🎉on-openers in Qatar although COTA is currently scheduled to return on October 3 while Argentina is postponed but not yet cancelled.