Double Misano: the Romagna racetrack will host a second race this season due to the cancellation of the Kazakhstan Grand Prix. This is the third time that the Sokol Circuit has seen its race suspended, with a calendar that initially included 22 events and is now limited to 20.
After the cancellation of the two races in Argentina and India, it was now Kazakhstan’s turn, which had already entered the 2023 calendar but was suspended to be introduced a year later. In its place, this year a second grand prix will take place at the Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli”, which will also be held on the weekend of September 20-22, just two weeks after the first.
The race, which was supposed to be held outside the city of Almaty, was originally scheduled for mid-July. However, Dorna FIM and IRTA announced in May that the event would be postponed due to flooding in Central Asia, which forced authorities to declare a national state of alert.
With the championship already underway, it was decided to move the race to September, the same weekend as the Indian Grand Prix. This was cancelled due to financial reasons. Motorsport.com had already reported during the last Dutch Grand Prix that Dorna was looking at alternatives to the race in Kazakhstan, faced with the possibility that the event could not go ahead. This situation was confirmed at midday today.
Once it was clear that the problems that had arisen prevented the event from taking place, Dorna began looking for options with the intention of avoiding having a calendar of only 19 races, after the cancellation of Argentina and India. The first thought was to hold a second race in Lusail, which had opened the season in March and which would have facilitated the logistics for the next event, in Lombok, Indonesia, from September 27 to 29.
However, an agreement with Qatar failed to be reached and the high temperatures there in September forced the top brass to look for other candidates. Valencia and Misano immediately appeared as ideal candidates, although a return to Brno, where there has not been a race since 2020, was also considered. In the end, Misano will be the chosen venue, where the teams will face a huge logistical challenge to have everything ready for the trip to Indonesia just five days later.
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