For those following the construction of the Balatonring in Hungary, the news that the Hungarian GP has been officially cancelled by Dorna and the FIM should be of little surprise. After having a myriad of problems, especially finding funding, the Hungarian track was a dealt a death blow this Monday when the Hungarian Development Bank declined to underwrite a loan for the track. With no money in sight, Dorna and the FIM had no choice but to officially cancel the venue, and implement Plan B, which sees MotoGP stopping at four, yes four tracks in Spain for 2010. Read more after the jump.
What’s going to be mounted on these protruding brackets? So far the 2010 MotoCzysz E1pc has been lapping the Isle of Man without its full fairing on the motorcycle. If history teaches us anything, the presumption, of course, should be that MotoCzysz has something still up its sleeve before the team takes to the Mountain Course tomorrow for the TT Zero event. Last year it was batteries in the tail-section, this year it would seem to be streamlining the E1pc. While Michael Czysz has derided the use of a dustbin style fairings in road racing, he has acknowledged that a course like the Isle of Man creates an opportunity for a race team to find some benefits in the design. As such, Czysz wrote three months ago that he would have a dustbin fairing at the ready, should someone else show up with one as well…and that’s exactly what’s happened.
- Help Name That KTM 125
- Hello Kitty Oil - Yes, You Read That
- Valentino Rossi Signs Two-Year Contract with Ducati
- Ducati Mega-Monster Spy Shots
- New Ducati Model to be Unveiled at Laguna Seca
- Brammo Empulse - This Changes Everything
- California Considering EPA-Style Exhaust Regulation
- MIC Launches Electric Vehicle Task Force
- 2011 Kawasaki ZX-10R Teaser & Concept
- Caption This Photo: MotoGP at Silverstone
Loris Capirossi seemed destined to owe Dorna boss Carmelo Ezpeleta a steak dinner after the Balatonring supposedly secured funding from the Hungarian Development Bank. That bad fortune (for Hungarian MotoGP fans, not for Capirex) seems to have changed however as the loan has now been refused by the Hungarian bank, which leaves the Hungarian circuit a big question mark for the 2010 MotoGP calendar as it struggles to raise the needed $80 million. Story gets worse after the jump.
For over a year the Balatonring has struggled to get to completion and be included in the MotoGP racing schedule. With the economic collapse last year, the Hungarian track failed to be completed on time to make its 2009 debut; and with the collapse in the real estate market, there was some doubt if the track would be completed at all.
Yet despite this Dorna remained faithful and thought it fit to place the track on the 2010 calendar. Upon its inspection in October 2009 by the MotoGP Rider’s Safety Commission, Loris Capirossi bet Dorna boss Carmelo Ezpeleta that the track wouldn’t be ready in time for the 2010 season. With a steak dinner on the line, Capirex should be seriously considering a stop by the butchery with the latest news.
Dorna and the MotoGP rider’s Safety Commission met in Sepang this past Friday before the Malaysian GP to talk about the upcoming 2010 season, and in particular the addition of the Hungarian Balatonring to the schedule. While Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta believes the track will be completed on-time for its MotoGP debute, Satefy Comission Founding Member, Loris Capirossi, disagrees. Putting his money where his mouth is, Capirossi has bet Ezpeleta on the Hungarian tracks completion.
The provisional MotoGP schedule is out. New to the line-up (well sort of), is the stop in Hungary at the Balatonring (yet to be built). And also, the British GP will be held at Silverstone instead of Donington Park. Donington will host Formula1 instead for the foreseeable future.That shouldn’t be a surprise to you if you’re a A&R regular, but for you newcomers…umm, gee…well, SURPRISE!
Dorna doesn’t seem convinced that the Balatonring will be completed in time. So they’ve hedged their bets with a “reserve circuit” in Spain, the Motorland Aragon Circuit. Motorland is a brand new facility that is just outside of Alcañiz, about a hundred miles inland from Barcelona. If the reserve circuit is used, it will mean 4 Grand Prix’s in Spain for 2010.
That might be good news for the rabid motorcycle racing fans of Espana, but it’s even better news for Motorland, which has been trying to establish itself as a premiere venue, by courting Formula1 and MotoGP. Full listing of the schedule after the jump.
After being cancelled as a stop for this year’s World Championship, the Hungarian GP is back on for 2010 at the Balatonring. The new track has been plagued with development problems in acquiring the land and necessary permits for its construction, leaving its planned September debut to be scrapped.
Hungary will be MotoGP’s second stop in Eastern Europe once the Balatonring is finished. When completed the new course will be 2.8 miles long, have 16 turns, and a straightaway where riders can expect speeds of 195 mph.

Well it looks like the rumors were true, and it has finally been made official: The Hungarian MotoGP at the Balatonring is cancelled for 2009. Hungarian Development Minister Tamás Suchman yesterday told Hungarian press agency that because the Spanish investors had missed the deadline by which they should have submitted a credit application required to help finance the circuit, the Hungarian GP will not take place at Sávoly, where the Balatonring is to be built, in 2009, but may be offered in the Spring of 2010.

Motorcycle News is reporting that the Hungarian round of MotoGP could be canceled, after funding problems have struck construction of the brand new Balatonring circuit. Rumors of the tracks financial problems have been circulating since the end of last year, but MCN is now claiming to have received information from “senior MotoGP officials”. MCN is also reporting that a move to the brand new Portimao circuit in Portugal was mooted, as a replacement for the Balatonring round, but that this was discounted because it would be too close to the official Portuguese Grand Prix at Estoril in early October. Given the current calls for cost-cutting in MotoGP, the more popular choice might be for the round to be canceled altogether. Skipping a whole weekend would cut down on expenditure significantly.
Source: MotoGP Matters









