Jamie McCanney may well travel to Saudi Arabia on a charter with the Pro-Drive team in advance of next month’s Dakar Rally.

The 26-year-old’s travel arrangements were put in a state of flux after the tightening of restrictions at midnight on Tuesday.

He was planning to head out to the Middle East independently via London and Paris with the rest of his Yamaha team.

But Saudi Arabia is one of at least 27 countries that decided to close their borders and suspend commercial flights to check the spread of a new coronavirus strain first discovered in the United Kingdom.

’For 24 hours or so I had no idea how I was going to get out to Saudi, but I then heard that the Pro-Drive guys were chartering a flight of their own, so I’m hopefully jumping on with them,’ said Jamie, on Wednesday morning.

After a near-perfect debut in the Dakar last January, when he finished 15th overall and best Briton, he this time is hoping to break into the top-10.

The 43rd annual event, originally from Paris to Dakar, on the Atlantic coast of Senegal, is scheduled to set-off from Jeddah on Sunday, January 3 and last for 13 days (including a single rest day).

But right now there is a serious question mark over whether it will go ahead at all following the identification of the highly-infectious strain of the virus that has caused chaos across the world.

McCanney is with the Lyon-based Yamaha factory team consisting of five riders and up to 40 back-up crew.

David Knight is also in the same dilemma. He has managed to raise in excess of £53,000 from a GoFundMe appeal and is set to ride a 450 Husqvarna in the same event.

Prior to the latest lockdown he was hoping to travel some of the way with his fellow Manxman, but that has all changed now.

His original plan was to go over on the boat to Heysham on Boxing Day and hitch a lift as far as Manchester with McCanney, then fly to Amsterdam and on to Jedah.

Holland is another country that has temporarily closed its borders with the UK, causing further issues.

Knighter is also exploring the possibilities of also travelling via a charter flight, but with the possibility that Saudi Arabia may well extend its closure of land borders and suspend international flights for an additional week, it could ultimately lead to the postponement or cancellation of the Dakar event.