According to MCN, Yamaha Racing’s Lin Jarvis is keen for more rounds in the Asian market — he is so keen in fact, that Jarvis has even suggested that s second round be held in Malaysia. With southeast asia proving to be an important market for the big motorcycle OEMs, the idea of doubling up on Malaysia for the MotoGP calendar is certainly not the worst idea ever proposed to Dorna’s Carmelo Ezpeleta.
For Yamaha Racing in particular, a second round in the southeast asian territory would dovetail nicely with the team’s already extensive connection to the region’s markets. While everyone in the paddock would seem to be in agreement on MotoGP’s needs to get out of Europe and into other markets, Jarvis’s request to Ezpeleta is still a tall order, as it is a tough proposition for the MotoGP Championship to double-dip not only a small country, but also the same venue.
As GPone points out today though, Malaysia is set to get another world-class racing venue, as McLaren’s Peter Lim has officially started construction on a Formula One-compliant facility just north of the country’s border with Singapore. Five minutes from the border crossing into Singapore, and four hours away from the Sepang International Circuit, “Motorsport City” is being built on 270 acres of land and will meet FIA Grade 2 certification.
Pitched as a testing facility for car racing teams, it is not a big stretch of the imagination to foresee motorcycle events at the circuit as well. The question remains though, with the Motorsport City in such close proximity to Sepang, would the two tracks cannibalize off each other if MotoGP made both stops in Malaysia?
In developed countries, the answer would likely be an assured yes, however in Malaysia, it might be a different story, and with Singapore just a stone’s throw across the border, things get very interesting.
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