MotoGP | Why was the 2024 Kazakhstan GP postponed?

MotoGP was originally supposed to go to Kazakhstan for the first time in 2023, in a bid to further expand its presence in Asia.

However, due to delays in the construction of the track, the Kazakh round was canceled for 2023 and rescheduled for 2024. Dorna Sports had subsequently scheduled the first Kazakhstan GP for the weekend of 14-16 June 2024.

But severe floods that hit the region earlier this year forced the GP to be postponed indefinitely while a place in the second half of the calendar was sought.

The opportunity arose when doubts arose about the holding of the second Indian Grand Prix. On 29 May the Indian GP was officially canceled due to financial reasons, with the promoter having breached its contract with Dorna for 2024.

As a result, the Kazakhstan GP has been rescheduled to take the place of the Indian GP, ​​on the weekend of 20-22 September.

The Kazakhstan GP will now be the first of a triple-header, with the Indonesian GP taking place the following week and followed by the Japanese GP.

The championship will remain in the Pacific region for a second triple-header with Australia, Thailand and Malaysia in late October and early November.

The exclusion of India from the 2024 calendar involves the cancellation of two of the 22 appointments initially scheduled.

The other was the Argentine GP, which was due to be the third round of the season in early April, before being canceled due to government spending cuts following the election of new president Javier Milei.

Argentina has not been replaced and it is currently unclear whether it will return to the calendar in the future.

Hungary had been earmarked as a reserve event at the new Balaton Park venue, should MotoGP need it. However, the circuit is not currently ready to host events of this scale, and it was recently announced that the World Superbike round scheduled at the circuit has been canceled and replaced.