“The FIM, IRTA and Dorna Sports announce the postponement of the Kazakhstan Grand Prix until 2024”, began by expressing the statement released by the World Cup organization. A cancellation that joins that of the Argentine Grand Prix due to political issues but that, however, has not come as a surprise. Since its arrival on the MotoGP calendar, the Central Asian event has always been in the spotlight for various issues, among them the status of a circuit that last season was already declared ‘not suitable’ for homologation by the organization. And although this year the problem is different, doubts arise again around the eighth test of the season.
“Unprecedented weather conditions have caused flooding across Central Asia, causing a national emergency in Kazakhstan and displacing much of the population. It would not be responsible for MotoGP to add any additional burden to authorities or services as they work to help the tens of thousands of people affected across the country.. Therefore, the Sokol International Circuit will not host MotoGP on the previously announced dates, and any other updates will be published once confirmed,” the statement continued, referring to the problem that had arisen on this occasion. The truth is that the region is experiencing its worst floods in the last 30 years.
The cursed date
The Asian event that has a contract until 2027, It was to have hosted its first race last season, however, the homologation work on the route was not fruitful and it ended up being cancelled. On this occasion, the rains that have been hitting Kazakhstan for a few days – especially in the northwest – and that have caused major disasters in the population seem to have forced Dorna to have to cancel the eighth race of the season again.
Although it is not a cancellation as such. The world championship plans to relocate the race again to Kazakhstan in the coming months, an idea that for the moment is just that, an idea because taking into account the history of the Sokol Circuit it would not be unreasonable to think of new news of definitive cancellation in a few weeks. If fulfilled, the calendar that was already characterized as the longest in history will return to its previous record of 20 races in one season.
A Grand Prix already organized
What is a fact is that this new change represents a new setback in the season because although doubt was always present around the race in Sokol, both teams and organization already had everything ready to travel to a new destination, the 74th different route in the history of the World Cup. A quote that, however, has created controversy from the beginning, among other things because the complicated logistics that arise, the circuit is located more than an hour from the city, Almaty. In fact, the teams had already mobilized to try to facilitate the experience by hiring buses to transport team members from the city to the circuit. An organization that for the moment is postponed and we will see if canceled…
