The Phillip Island MotoGP date will not change

Earlier this year, the Australian Grand Prix Corporation, which runs Australia’s F1 and MotoGP races, signed a new contract with F1 that runs until 2035.

Under the agreement, the race at Albert Park is to be one of the first three races of the season, including at least five slots for the season opener.

This basically locks the Australian Grand Prix to the March-April date for the next 13 years.

As a result of the agreement with Formula 1, the MotoGP round at Phillip Island should take place at the end of the year.

The idea of ​​starting the season for the AGP in hopes of warmer weather has been floated publicly by riders for years.

It happened again this year after the event was affected by bad weather. It rained heavily on the eve of the event left the track flooded Thursday night before practiceand while most of the run was dry over the weekend, ambient temperatures generally stayed in the mid-teens.

The concept of an earlier date was seriously investigated by the AGPC as recently as last year after calls from Dorna back in 2019 to evaluate the ideahowever, the race promoter is now committed to the September/October MotoGP slot.

“The first race in MotoGP will be Qatar; that rules out January or February,” APGC CEO Andrew Westacott told Motorsport.com.

“At the beginning of the year we have Formula 1 and we need a breather in our organization. In addition, we have to think about infrastructure, suppliers and so on.

“So the right time for MotoGP is this slot. It’s a slot we’re very comfortable with and so is Dorna.”

The impetus for the date change has always come during the cold and wet conditions at Phillip Island, with the riders’ collective belief that conditions would be better earlier in the calendar.

However, Westacott is adamant that due to Phillip Island’s notoriously variable climate, the chance of rain in March or April will be no different than in September or October.

“If you put it in March or April, the weather in March or April is no different than October,” he said.

“Philip Island changes many times during the week. OK, you can pay attention and say that the last weekend of October will be better than the first weekend of September.

“But I think this slot makes it a traditional end to the season. You have flights – here in Malaysia and then back to Valencia. It works well.”