MOTOGP RELEASES PROVISIONAL CALENDAR FOR 2024

The FIM MotoGP World Championship has released a provisional calendar for 2024. With 22 rounds scheduled, all of which will include the Saturday sprint race that was introduced for the premier class this year, the 2024 MotoGP season will be the longest ever.

This year, renovations to the Lusail circuit forced the Qatar round to be rescheduled, but it’ll be back in its traditional slot as the season opener in 2024, with Valencia retaining its position as the season finale. Next year’s flyaway rounds are all in similar positions to 2023, including the Australian round, which is scheduled for 18-20 October.

Barring accident or injury, the 2024 Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix at Phillip Island will see Aussie representation in all three GP categories, with Jack Miller in MotoGP, Senna Agius in Moto2 and both Joel Kelso and Jacob Roulstone in Moto3.

After Mandalika in Indonesia and Buddh in India made their MotoGP debuts this year, both venues return for 2024, but the Indian round remains subject to contract, as does the Portuguese round at Portimao. The Kazakhstan round, which was cancelled this year due to the war in nearby Ukraine (among other reasons), is back on the provisional 2024 calendar, but remains subject to contract, with the country’s Sokol circuit also subject to homologation.

Balaton Park in Hungary has been named as a reserve venue for 2024, so could replace any of the aforementioned three rounds. An all-new track that’s been built to FIM and FIA standards, Balaton Park will host a round of the World Superbike Championship in 2024, with a MotoGP round to follow in 2025. Regardless of whether a MotoGP round goes ahead in Hungary next year or the following, it’ll be grand prix racing’s first visit in more than three decades. The Hungaroring hosted a round in 1990 and 1992, and was the venue where Mick Doohan took his first 500cc win.

A definite non-starter for 2024 is the Finnish round. Originally scheduled for 2020, COVID-19, homologation issues and bankruptcy for the companies that built the KymiRing circuit northeast of Helsinki resulted in three straight years of cancellations. In late-2022, Dorna sued the circuit’s subsidiary, KymiRing events, for breach of contract. As such, it’s no surprise the Finnish round does not appear on the provisional 2024 calendar.

The 2024 MotoGP season follows a similar pattern to this year, with the mid-season break scheduled between the German and British rounds. The first leg of flyaway rounds early in the season takes in Argentina and the USA, while the second leg that includes the Australian GP consists of six rounds, starting in India in September and finishing in Malaysia in early November.

The provisional 2024 calendar is as follows: