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After last year’s inaugural Indian GP, the Buddh International Circuit was set to play host to MotoGP again on September 20-22.
That has now been cancelled, but it provides a neat solution for fitting Kazakhstan back into the calendar after its event on June 14-16 was postponed due to flooding in the region.
An initial statement from Dorna Sports and the FIM advised, “The FIM, IRTA and Dorna Sports announce that the Indian Grand Prix will not take place in 2024, with MotoGP postponing its return to the country to early 2025 due to operational considerations.
“Following advice from the Government of Uttar Pradesh as the state continues its long-term commitment to MotoGP, the sport will return to Buddh International Circuit in March 2025, when weather conditions are expected to be optimal for spectators and riders alike.”
A short time later, both announced, “The inaugural Kazakhstan GP will now take place from the 20th to the 22nd of September as the first race on the Asian leg of the 2024 MotoGP calendar.”
The loss of India, after the Argentina GP was cancelled following a change in government, means the calendar is back down to 20 rounds.
For Kazakhstan, this is the second time that its MotoGP debut has been delayed, after the 2023 event was cancelled altogether due to the late homologation of the all-new Sokol International Racetrack.
It will now be the start of a triple-header sequence running into October which includes Indonesia’s Mandalika and Japan’s Motegi, before a weekend off and the rest of the fly-aways at Australia’s Phillip Island, Thailand’s Buriram, and Malaysia’s Sepang.
In the meantime, Round 7, the Italian Grand prix, takes place this weekend at Mugello, with Round 8 four weeks later at Assen in The Netherlands.
