Courtesy of Goodwood Road & Racing. Photo: Matt Sills

Chichester, West Sussex, ENGLAND — In the United Kingdom’s Monday announcement about its anticipated lifting of coronavirus restrictions next week, Prime Minister Boris Johnson recommended delaying the opening of large scale public events until July 19 based on concerns over the spread rate of cases of the Delta variant.

At the same time Johnson made the recommendation to hold off step 4 openings, he said some “pilot events” that are part of the country’s Events Research Programme (ERP) — designed to examine the risk of the COVID-19 virus transmission among individuals attending large scale events — will be allowed to go on.

In his remarks, Johnson specifically cited Euro2020 — the European Football Championship, taking place at 11 venues in Europe, including Wembley Stadium in London and Hamden Park in Glasgow — as an example.

Thoughts immediately turned to whether the Goodwood Festival of Speed presented by Mastercard, scheduled for July 8-11, would be considered among the ERP pilot programs. The answer isn’t yet clear.

In a statement posted Monday on the Goodwood website, estate officials said, “We are in discussions with the Government and public health authorities on finalising the details with regards to the Festival of Speed. We are expecting more information on the pilots to be announced later this week, at which point we will be able to confirm the next steps for this year’s event.”

The statement added, “We will communicate with all ticket holders as a matter of high priority in the coming days ahead. At this stage, there is no requirement for you to contact us but please keep an eye out for official communications in due course.”

Vintage Motorsport will provide further information and updates as they’re available.