MotoGP promoter Dorna has been looking into adding a second U.S. Grand Prix to the calendar for several months, but has no plans to do so as early as the 2025 season.
The provisional calendar for next season will be announced shortly after the next Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. However, some details are already known, such as the fact that the championship will start at the Chang International Circuit (better known as Buriram, in Thailand) on the first weekend of March.
Austin’s Circuit of the Americas will still host the only race scheduled in the United States, despite the Spanish company’s desire to add another race in the country to the Texan event. “There is definitely a dialogue,” Dorna chief commercial officer Dan Rossomondo told Motorsport.com in Misano, regarding a second United States Grand Prix.
“There is interest from those who want to host the championship, but we have very strict safety rules and we cannot race everywhere. In the United States we also have to look for the right impact on the market. Austin is in the center of the country, it is a popular and cool city and it ticks many of the boxes for us,” he continued.
Laguna Seca, home to legendary Grand Prix races in the past and a circuit much loved by fans, but “it is probably not feasible at the moment”. This is due to the homologation of the circuit (which must meet the highest FIM standards to host MotoGP) and the legal action currently hanging over the track by local residents over pollution and noise concerns.
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There has also been talk of Flatrock Motorsports Park, a new facility in Tennessee, but the site isn’t ready for the premier class yet. “They’re focused on their club track. We haven’t talked to them in a while because they’re interested in building their home,” Rossomondo continued. “There’s some interest from a group in the Northwest, but that’s in the works.”
Indianapolis, which hosted another MotoGP race between 2008 and 2015, has been ruled out, and Dorna’s ideal location is also out of the running: “The dream is that we can make an area like Miami work for us, which has a market… But at the moment it’s completely impossible.”
Further expansion in the United States is a priority for the company, as Dorna aims to transform the category into a global entertainment product. The acquisition by Liberty Media is expected to be sealed by the end of November, after having passed all approvals from the relevant competition authorities, and the joint effort with the American company for MotoGP will intensify during 2025.
“The United States is an important reference point, because it dictates many economic decisions for commercial partners. All my partners ask me ‘when will we have another race in the United States’, but we also have to solve the problem of the balance of the calendar”, added the championship’s commercial manager.
In 2025, MotoGP will move even closer to Thailand. Not only will the final pre-season test and the first Grand Prix of the season be held in Buriram, but Dorna is considering organising a joint World Championship launch event in Bangkok, where the teams will organise a glitzy launch event to drum up interest in the new year: “It’s a huge market for motorcycling. We love the city of Bangkok and we like the idea of organising a preview there,” concluded Rossomondo.
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