A month and a half before the start of the MotoGP World Championship, scheduled for March 10 in Qatar, Motorsport.com has learned that the third round of the calendar, scheduled for the weekend of April 5, 6 and 7 in Argentina, is in serious danger .
Since the beginning of his presidency on December 10, Javier Milei, 53, has implemented a cost-cutting policy across all sectors of the Argentine state, halving the number of ministries from 18 to nine immediately after taking office.
As part of this program of budget cuts, the inclusion of the direct expenses of the MotoGP Grand Prix is practically unjustifiable, given that the event receives a significant amount of money from the national state, a key player together with the provincial government of Santiago del Abroad and to the private promoter, for the organization of the race.
On January 19, it was announced that the inaugural event of the Motocross World Championship, which should have been held at the Neuquén circuit in the south of the country, had been cancelled. However, in the last few hours, it has been confirmed that the MXGP visit to Argentina, scheduled for March 9 and 10, is still possible “thanks to the cooperation of all parties involved in the event”, according to the organizers, who cited the local and provincial organizers, but not the government, an absolutely necessary actor for the holding of the MotoGP Grand Prix.
Most of the teams have not yet been informed by IRTA, the association that represents them, but many of them suspect that the Termas de Rio Hondo event will not take place. If the race were to be cancelled, the convoy would have three weeks between the race in Portugal on March 24 and the one in Austin on April 14.
Although the Balaton Park circuit is indicated as a reserve in the calendar announced at the end of September, the limited time available makes it difficult to imagine that the Hungarian event can fill the void left by Argentina. Indeed, the teams consulted by Motorsport.com would not be surprised if the Kazakhstan Grand Prix, scheduled for mid-June and canceled last season, does not make its debut in 2024 either.
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