MotoGP return to Brazil unlikely in near future

Brazil’s bid to return to the MotoGP calendar for the first time since 2004 appears to have stalled.

The South American country was pencilled in on the 2014 schedule for a race at the Brasilia track in late September.

But a lack of multi-million pound funding required to completely renovate the Autodromo Internacional Nelson Piquet never materialised and the race was dropped from the schedule.

Bosses of the Internacional Ayrton Senna track in Goiania then expressed interest in hosting MotoGP in 2015, but that seems highly unlikely after a recent site inspection by Dorna Managing Director Javier Alonso.

Alonso told MCN: “The track is not ready in Goiania. It is a circuit that’s had a refresh but it is still not up to the standard that we need and we have told them what is required. We need to have service roads and there were none and we need to have walls defining the track and there wasn’t any in place. And we need a proper medical centre and there wasn’t one. We said to them to work on that project now and maybe we can do a test with them at the end of next year.”

MotoGP has a foothold back in South America now, with Argentina returning to the calendar this season at the Termas de Rio Hondo track.

Talks are also advanced with a new track in Chile that could see World Superbikes race there in 2015, with the venue within a one hour drive of Santiago joining the MotoGP schedule in 2016.