Dorna has been acting as a marketer of commercial GP rights since 1992 and, during these 33 years, they've added numerous new GP tracks to the racing calendar. But some serious flops among race track projects also exist.
For the 2013 season, the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin/Texas was added to the GP calendar. The Argentine GP returned in 2014, for the first time in Las Termas de Rio Hondo, 1150 km from Buenos Aires. The Austrian GP in Spielberg returned to the MotoGP schedule in 2016 for the first time in 19 years. Then Buriram (Thailand) made its debut in 2018 and Mandalika (Indonesia) in 2022.
However, in the past ten years, several plans for new MotoGP venues have failed. Managers at Dorna were often too trusting. They were sometimes duped by shady race track builders and dubious promoters.
Often, even renowned politicians were involved, making some illustrious promises before elections and, then, they were no longer in office a few months later.
A first dramatic and embarrassing example was when Dorna agreed on a five-year contract in Great Britain with the euphoric backers of the Circuit of Wales; the first World Championship race in the north of Ebbw Vale that should've taken place in 2015. But Michael Carrick, head of the Head of the Valleys Development Company, was primarily known for his hypocritical assurances and masterful delaying tactics.
Yet, the groundbreaking ceremony never took place. The Circuit of Wales managers had to rent the Silverstone Circuit for the British World Championship race in 2015! In England, experts were already assuming that the motorcycle world championship race would have to be held in Silverstone in 2016 and 2017. In 2017, Carrick went bankrupt. Now, the races will take place in Northamptonshire until 2026.
When I wanted to bet £100 with Circuit of Wales director Chris Herring in 2016 that a Grand Prix would never take place in Wales, he replied: "No, only £10." Later he stated: "The project was supposed to cost around 410 million Euros in the end. You could buy an entire country in Africa for that."
Questionable investors
Dorna experienced a similar failure around 15 years ago with the Hungarian GP. Crooked Spanish investors wanted to build the Balatonring in the Hungarian lowlands on Lake Balaton.
The Grand Prix had been set for September 20th, 2009 and, Gabor Talmacsi, the 125cc world champion, was seen as the figurehead. He rode an Aprilia 250 for the Aspar team on the new circuit. But the motorsport arena in the Puszta never got beyond the planning stage, like a kind of shell (after the earthworks, everything stopped).
The plans for the GP made by the managers of the Crimea Circuit on the Crimean peninsula, which was annexed by Russia in 2014, didn't go much differently. The Crimea Circuit was eventually completed, the Gresini Moto2 team advertised it, but the money from the questionable investors wasnìt enough to set up an infrastructure worthy of a GP.
Dorna also concluded preliminary contracts and letters of intent for MotoGP events with potential GP organizers in Bulgaria and Singapore, where a permanent track was to be built near the airport. In Bulgaria, the former 80cc GP rider, and later association president, Bogdan Nikolov, was involved in the race track project.
But, most of the time, the would-be GP organizers only needed the Dorna contracts to look for money, and their efforts mostly came to nothing.
It was no different in Chile nine years ago. Head of Dorna, Carmelo Ezpeleta, was impressed by the people who operated the Autódromo Internacional Codegua in Chile. Construction costs were calculated at 20 million US Dollars. The track was to be 4.6 km long and 13 meters wide, with a 16 meter-wide wide start/finish straight. The paddock was to cover 45,000 square meters. 36 VIP rooms were planned above the modern pit area, as well as a pompous 7,000-square meter shopping boulevard with restaurants, souvenir shops, and viewing terraces.
The Chileans made their appearance at the first Las Termas GP in 2014, and they at least had a racetrack that was almost ready for use. However, there were no permits for it, since it had been illegally built, The Chile GP for 2016 or 2017 never came to fruition. It was supposed to take place a week after the Argentine GP.
Managers at Dorna and Safety Officer at the time, Franco Uncini, met Antonio D'Angelo, the director of React Sports, which wanted to act as a GP promoter and complete and finance the Autódromo Internacional de Codegua (AIC) as a venue for the MotoGP event in Chile. Juan Pablo Morales was the architect responsible for the layout of the Autódromo. In 2015, a Superbike World Championship race was to be held in Chile as a test, but all of these plans fell through.
Expansion in South America failed
The expansion in South America desired by the sponsors and motorcycle manufacturers has failed for the time being, while Liberty Media now manages three Formula 1 Grands Prix in the USA, as well as one in Mexico and one Brazil.
The plans for a MotoGP returning to the Brazilian GP in Goiania, or for a new construction of the neglected Ayrton Senna Circuit in Brasilia, have also fallen through. In Brazil, the World Championship and the Olympic Games were a priority. The oftentimes corrupt politicians couldn't afford any other major project.
A pompous new racetrack in Ri,o on the site of a former football stadium, also fell through. The Formula 1 and the MotoGP were supposed to hold their World Championships there. Negotiations were then held as to whether the Formula 1 racetrack in Mexico City should be made available for the MotoGP, ideally for 2019, but that didn't happen either.
Dorna withdrew from Istanbul and Shanghai after a few years, because the interest of spectators and the industry left much to be desired.
A Grand Prix on the pompous Formula 1 track in Abu Dhabi failed, due to a lack of interest from the sheikhs, who didn't want to take additional security precautions for the motorcycles.
The situation was different at the Buddh Circuit in India. Because the Indian customs authorities didn't want to meet the requirements of Dorna and IRTA, the event at Greater Noida near New Delhi didn't become a reality for the first time until 2023. The strict customs measures were suspended by the authorities, but the bureaucratic obstacles not only drove the factories and teams to despair but also many reporters.
That is why Dorna, as a World Championship promoter, quickly bid farewll to India after the premiere in 2023, like Formula 1 once did. The 5.125 km long circuit was designed by German racetrack designer Hermann Tilke. The circuit accommodated the Formula 1 Indian Grand Prix from 2011 to 2013. But the event was cancelled for 2014, due to a tax dispute with the Government of Uttar Pradesh an the regional administration.
Nevertheless, Dorna organizes a considerable number of GP events in Asia with its emerging markets, because many of them attract record crowds.
The Indian Buddh Circuit was dropped from the MotoGP calendar in 2024 after numerous problems encountered in India in 2023. The Argentina GP also had to be cancelled in 2024, because the new president, Xavier Milei, implemented rigorous austerity measures. The Kazakhstan GP couldn't be held in 2024 either. Instead, Aragón was put back on the schedule, as was a second GP in Misano.
In Indonesia, the Sentul Circuit near Jakarta, which hosted the GP in 1996 and 1997, was to be modernized and put on the GP calendar in 2017. But nobody wanted anything to do with the site of Tommy Suharto, because he was convicted of murder (his father was president of Indonesia and ruled as a dictator).
Afterwards, the renowned German racetrack architect, Hermann Tilke, planned a track in Palembang/South Sumatra on the edge of the Asian Games site. But the government rejected this plan and pushed through the construction of the new Mandalika Street Circuit on the Indonesian holiday island of Lombok.
The Chang International Circuit in the province of Buriram in Thailand had been on Dorna's GP waiting list for years. But it first had to host the Superbike World Championship for three years, up to and including 2017, and the eagerly awaited GP deal only worked out for 2018.
Several racetrack projects in exotic destinations have turned out to be pipe dreams.
But a number of euphoric projects have worked out, for example, the Losail Circuit in Qatar, which has been a mainstay of the calendar since 2004.
And the expansion to Saudi Arabia is also taking shape, although no MotoGP-compatible track has yet been built.
The arduous trip to the Sokol Circuit in Kazakhstan had to be canceled twice in 2023 and 2024, despite Dorna managers being confident about the outcome.
KymiRing GP, dead forever
The concept of the Finns for the KymiRing, which was originally supposed to be ready in 2017 and was first used by the MotoGP test teams in August 2019, originally seemed to make sense.
The first Grand Prix on the 4.6 km-long track, with 18 corners, was planned for July 2020. But it never worked out. In 2022, the event was canceled a few weeks before the GP date on July 10th ... forever. Dorna is demanding damages for 6.4 million Euros, but the Kymi Ring operators have been bankrupt since the summer.
Along with the KymiRing GP, a Russian GP was to be held for the first time in 2021, during the Corona period, on the Igora Drive Circuit near St. Petersburg (only about a 4 hour drive from the KymiRing), on two consecutive Sundays in July. But the deal fell through, and a return is illusive because of the war in Ukraine, although the track was to be extended and the DTM also showed temporary interest.
The last time a Finnish motorcycle GP was held on the dangerous street circuit in Imatra was in 1982. The track even included a bumpy railway crossing after a 90-degree bend, where full acceleration was required. The 500 cc class was held there for the last time in 1981.
Kenny Roberts' and Barry Sheene' factory Yamahas were equipped with the new V4 engine and sensitive magnesium engine housing. The engine housings of both riders couldn't withstand the stress. The result: two embarrassing failures for the Yamaha stars. "The Japanese Yamaha engineers are clueless," three-time 500 cc World Champion "King Kenny" Roberts said, jokingly. When I asked, King Kenny added with a grin: "They foolishly built a test track in Japan without a bumpy railway crossing ..."
MotoGP calendar 2025:
February 28th to March 2nd: Buriram, Thailand
March 14th to 16th: Las Termas de Rió Hondo, Argentina
March 28th to 30th: COTA in Austin, USA
April 11th to 13th: Losail Circuit in Doha, Qatar
Aril 25th to 27th: Jerez, Spain
May 9th to 11th: Le Mans, France
May 23rd to 25th: Silverstone, Great Britain
June 6th to 8th: MotorLand Aragón, Spain
June 20th to 22nd: Mugello, Italy
June 27th to 29th: Assen, Netherlands
July 11th to 13th: Sachsenring, Germany
July 18th to 20th: Brno, Czech Republic
August 15th to 17th: Spielberg, Austria
August 22nd to 24th: Balaton Park, Hungary
September 5th to 7th: Catalunya, Spain
September 12th to 14th: Misano, Italy
September 26th to 28th: Motegi, Japan
October 3rd to 5th: Mandalika Circuit, Indonesia
October 17th to 19th: Phillip Island, Australia
October 24th to 26th: Sepang, Malaysia
November 7th to 9th: Portimão, Portugal
November 14th to 16th: Valencia, Spain
MotoGP winter tests 2024/2025:
January 31st to February 2nd: Sepang Shakedown Test
February 5th to 7th: Sepang MotoGP Test
February 12th to 13th: Buriram MotoGP Test