On Tuesday, MotoGP announced it had canceled the Sepang test in Malaysia after a state of emergency was declared due to an escalation in COVID-19 cases in the country.
The Qatar test is currently planned for March 10th and 12th, although the start date for the championship on March 28th in the country is still pending for the time being.
Autosport expects a meeting between the heads of all MotoGP teams, the FIM governing body and the commercial rights holder, Dorna, will be held on Thursday to discuss the possibility of changing the start date to March 28th.
Currently, the only preseason test, now slated for 2021, ends two weeks before the first round, as it did in previous years.
But last year, the COVID-19 outbreak reached a critical point globally between the Qatar test and the opening lap, forcing the MotoGP race to be canceled due to travel restrictions coming into effect in the country.
One option to be discussed is to push back the testing date for Qatar to shorten the gap between him and the Grand Prix. This would allow the teams to stay in the country for the race without having to spend money on two weeks of accommodation.
Another option is to postpone the Qatar GP to the week before.
Currently, the 2021 Formula 1 season is slated to begin in Bahrain on March 28, which will lead to a television conflict as both will be played as twilight events.
With F1 postponing its original season opener in Australia, Autosport believes some teams think MotoGP should use this slot for the Qatar round.
Approval would have to be obtained from the TV stations and the organizers of the Qatar GP.
The provisional MotoGP calendar for 2021 consists of 20 events, but only 19 of them have been confirmed as the place originally held by the Czech GP remains a TBC in the draft schedule.
As the virus situation worsens around the world due to the emergence of new variants of COVID-19, more changes are likely to need to be made.
Last year MotoGP completed a 14-lap calendar in Europe, in which Jerez, Red Bull Ring, Misano, Aragon and Valencia each hosted two races.