It is not yet official but it now seems certain that a Hungarian GP will be added to the 2025 MotoGP calendar. This is the news that is circulating in the Misano paddock and is now in the public domain. Of course, there is no mention of the historic Hungaroring track, which is included in the F1 calendar and which is remembered for Cagiva's historic victory with Eddie Lawson in 1992.
Nor will the race feature the Hajdúnánás track, which had been bandied around as a possibility in 2021 but we understand has not been built. Instead, the project features the Balaton Park circuit, which is described as a modern 4.115-kilometer track and is 12 to 15 meters wide with six right and 10 left turns.
It is located at the junction with Lake Balaton, 85 km from Budapest, 150 km from the Austrian border, 240 km from the border with the Czech Republic, and 120, 150, 480 and 190 km from the borders with Slovakia, Croatia, Italy and Slovenia respectively. A triangle that could see a triple-header of Grands Prix between Brno, the Red Bull Ring and Balaton Park, precisely.
The description speaks of a circuit built with modern, safety and space criteria and housing 48 11-meter x 4-meter pits inside. An in-house Hotel should be finished by 2025, but some 40 kilometers and a 45-minute drive away is the renowned Anna Grand Hotel, a five-star luxury hotel.
It is worth mentioning that the contract linking Dorna to the Hungarian government followed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding that provided for the holding of five Grands Prix in the nation, from 2022 to 2026.
The agreement had been signed by László Palkovics, Minister for Innovation and Technology, but we are no longer aware of him being in the government.
The first rumors about the Hungarian GP had already come about after the title won in 125cc by Gabor Talmacsi in 2007.
After the cancellation of the GPs of Argentina, India and Kazakhstan this year, we hope not to witness yet another 'good intention' by Dorna. We need safe and, above all, better organized calendars than the 2024 one, which is certainly among the most chaotic ever experienced by MotoGP. Suffice to mention the clash in two weeks' time between Cremona Superbike and Misano 2, which will be immediately followed by the Indonesian and Japanese GPs. And if you think that the second race on the Marco Simoncelli is, at the very least, relaxing for the people in the paddock who would find themselves with hospitality and logistics already assembled, you are wrong: Misano between the two GPs will host a bicycle event and everything will have to be dismantled and moved!
Automatic Translation by DeepL