Motorsport UK has announced that is it suspending all organising permits and Certificates of Exemption until at least 30th April 2020.
The organisation, the governing body of UK Motorsport, said it had taken the drastic step in wake of the latest advice from the government in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic.
Motorsport UK is in charge of issuing sports permits for events, their announcement ensures all four-wheel motorsport events will not be taking place for the rest of March and all of April.
This means that rounds of the British GT, British Touring Cars and British Rally Championships and hundreds of small clubman events will not take place.
Motorsport UK’s announcement comes the after the government called for people to avoid social activities and large groups of people as part of measures to stop COVID-19 from spreading.
This had lead to the Premier League, EFL and the Rugby Football Union to suspended all of their games for the rest of March and into April.
Motorsport UK’s Chairman David Richards justified the measure stating, “Clearly we live in challenging times and exceptional measures are required.
“The decision to suspend Motorsport UK permits on a temporary basis is not one that was taken lightly as the industry employs many thousands of people.
“However we have an over-riding responsibility to our members and the friends and families of our community.
“Furthermore, our social responsibilities extend to the broader population and the potential drain on valuable public health resources on which we are all reliant.”
Richards also announced that the organisation would be calling for assistance from the government to ensure there was the financial support to sustain the industry during this extraordinary scenario.
Although the ban currently extends to the 30th April, Richards did not rule out extending the ban.
“The situation is very fluid and we will continue to monitor developments over the coming weeks and hope that we can resume the annual motorsport calendar at the opportune moment,” he said.
