MotoGP set to replace Kazakhstan GP with second Qatar round

The MotoGP Kazakhstan Grand Prix will not take place and a second round will be held in Qatar instead, Motorsport.com understands.
 
The race at the Sokol circuit has been in doubt from the moment it entered the calendar.

Initially, the event was due to debut last year, but its cancellation was announced not long into the season as work on the facility, just outside the town of Almati, was not on schedule.

The 2024 event was scheduled for 14-16 July, but had to be postponed due to extreme flooding in the region this year.

At that time it was decided that the event would be placed in the gap left by the Indian Grand Prix, on the weekend of 20-22 September, with the race at the Buddh International Circuit cancelled after the local promoter failed to meet its commitments.

However, Motorsport.com can reveal that Kazakhstan will not be making its MotoGP debut this time around either, due to the lack of guarantees offered by the local organisers.

This is despite Dorna's efforts in recent months, in which it has regularly sent contingents to speed up all the work that was still pending.

In this respect, the fact that the circuit is located in a very remote area without much infrastructure has not helped.

Race start

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

This is the third 2024 race to be cancelled after India and Argentina, though the total number of rounds will remain at 20.

Dorna, together with the other players who manage the event, have opted for a second visit to Qatar, an event which opened this year's calendar.

This will be the second time in MotoGP history that Qatar will feature twice on the same calendar.

In 2021, due to the COVID pandemic, MotoGP opened the season with back-to-back events at Losail - the Qatar GP and the Doha GP.

A number of circuits hosted races twice in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID pandemic.

That second 2024 race at the Losail circuit will be the first of a hectic Asian tour, which will begin on the outskirts of Doha on 22 September, before the series moves to Indonesia (29 September) and the following week Japan (6 October), and which will close with another hat-trick in Australia (20 October), Thailand (27 October) and Malaysia (3 November).

The season will close two weeks later in Valencia on the weekend of 15-17 November.