The inaugural Kazakhstan Grand Prix has been postponed from its June schedule owing to the ongoing flooding emergency in Central Asia, MotoGP has announced.
Scheduled for 14-16 June, no new date has been given for the event but Dorna Sports expects to still stage it this year.
MotoGP was originally scheduled to race in Kazakhstan at the new Sokol International Racetrack, near the country’s main metropolis of Almaty, last year as part of an expanding calendar.
However, due to the circuit not being available at the time for its 9 July date, the event was canceled and not substituted in 2023.
It was pencilled onto the 2024 calendar for the weekend of 14-16 June.
However, on Friday 3 May, MotoGP announced that the Kazakhstan GP has had to be postponed due to the flooding emergency that has impacted the region in recent weeks.
In what has been described as the worst inundation in the region in 80 years, the Ural river – as a result of swiftly dissolving snow and ice due to high temperatures, as well as heavy rain – overflowed its banks in April.
As of 1 May, however, over 40,000 displaced people have returned to their residences and clear-up efforts are ongoing – according to local media reports.
A statement from the FIM read: “Unprecedented weather conditions have led to 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 on the authorities or services as they work to help the tens of thousands of people affected across the country.
“Sokol International Racetrack will therefore not host MotoGP on the dates previously announced, and any further updates will be published once confirmed.
“As our utmost priority, MotoGP sends our condolences and support to the people of Kazakhstan and all those affected by the flooding in Central Asia. We pray the nation, region and communities impacted can recuperate as soon as possible.”
Despite uncertainty over the event taking place in 2024, in recent weeks the proposition of it happening appeared much firmer in recent weeks, with a Dorna homologation inspection originally scheduled to take place after the Catalan GP at the end of May.
Kazakhstan being withdrawn from its initial calendar position does create two significant voids for the series.
After the Italian GP at Mugello on 2 June, MotoGP won’t race again until the weekend of 28-30 June at the Dutch TT.
A week later the German GP at the Sachsenring will be conducted before MotoGP heads away for a three-week summer hiatus before the British GP on 2-4 August.
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As such, MotoGP is confronting a schedule of just three rounds in nine weeks from the final weekend in June.
One other question mark on the 2024 MotoGP calendar is the viability of the Indian GP, which was contested for the first time last year.
At present, tickets have not gone on sale for the event – though it wasn’t until closer to the round that this happened last year.
MotoGP was already compelled to cancel one race in 2024 as government funding cutbacks meant the Argentina GP in April couldn’t be conducted.
MotoGP affirmed during the initial calendar announcement that Hungary’s Balaton Park would function as a contingency venue, subject to homologation.
However, with such a congested schedule in the second half of the year, it will be difficult for the series to either reschedule Kazakhstan or add a replacement.
