Argentina renews MotoGP contract

MotoGP will continue to race at Argentina’s Autodromo Termas de Rio Hondo at least until the end of 2025 under a new, three-year contract.

Termas de Rio Hondo already had a place on the 2022 calendar after this year’s and last year’s Grands Prix of Argentina were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Having debuted on the calendar in 2014, the new agreement will take the circuit to 10 appearances on the MotoGP calendar.

Dorna Sports CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta said, “The three-year contract renewal for the Grand Prix of Argentina is fantastic news for MotoGP, showing once again the incredible level of interest in our sport across the territory.

“The impressive crowds who flock to the event, and from many different countries, added to the great feedback from the riders, proves how vital our presence in Argentina and Latin America truly is.”

The agreement is between Dorna, the Argentinean Ministry of Sport and Tourism, the National Institute of Tourism Promotion in Argentina (Inprotur), the Government of Santiago del Estero province, and local promoter OSD Group.

It was announced in a presentation in the city of Termas de Rio Hondo, while MotoGP is in the region for Round 15 of the campaign, this weekend at Texas’s Circuit of The Americas (COTA).

Termas de Rio Hondo holds a special place in Australian motorsport history, as the scene of thus far Jack Miller’s sole premier class pole position, in 2018, and Remy Gardner’s first grand prix podium, a year later in the Moto2 class.

Miller qualified fastest for a race which began in bizarre circumstances, when he was left alone on the first three rows, and erupted in controversy after a run-in between Marc Marquez and Valentino Rossi.

No date has been given for the 2022 Argentina round, although Termas de Rio Hondo and COTA typically play host in April.