Portuguese Portimao to open next MotoGP season

The World Road Motorcycle Championship has announced that the next edition of the Portuguese GP will start at the Algarve circuit near Portimao. It has also set a date for the race. The next MotoGP season will start on the weekend of March 24-26, 2023.

It has been known for several months that the VC of Qatar, as the traditional venue for the first race of the season, will not be able to open the next MotoGP season at the Losail circuit. The reason for this is extensive modifications on and around the circuit.

These modifications are believed to allow the Qatar Formula 1 VC to run smoothly on the 5,380-metre track.

Although there were reports circulating around the motorsport world that the Qatar F1 VC might move to another race track in the country. However, nothing of the sort has been confirmed so far. This means that Losail is the first and so far only candidate where F1 could visit next year.

The 2023 MotoGP season will be the first since 2006, the last time it started in Europe, and that was then at the Jerez circuit in Spain. At the same time, the Portuguese Grand Prix will open the new World Championship season for the very first time in the championship’s history.

MotoGP has confirmed on its website that it will publish a full, but still provisional, calendar in the near future. It has also confirmed that pre-season testing ahead of the new season will take place at the Algarve circuit. MotoGP has not revealed an explanation for its decision, but it can be deduced that it will be for logistical reasons.

The Portuguese MotoGP VC has returned to the calendar in 2020 as a replacement for the cancelled non-European races that could not take place due to coronavirus measures. However, the track near Portimao has found a lot of fans, mainly due to the extreme elevation changes on many sections of the circuit.

The Algarve race, however, was the fifth stop of the MotoGP season on the Apennine Peninsula, when the four races held in Spain are added. Many fans don’t like this and would rather see the series expand to other countries or rotate the existing Spanish races.

Source: MotoGP