LONDON: Next year’s German MotoGP race at the Sachsenring has been moved back a week to July 14 to avoid a clash with the country’s Formula One Grand Prix.
The International Motorcycling Federation (FIM) announced the change in a statement that also detailed an agreement between MotoGP promoters DORNA and the Andalucian government to keep the Spanish Grand Prix at the Jerez Circuit until at least 2015.
Formula One’s governing body announced last week that they were bringing forward the date of their German Grand Prix by a week to July 7 to create a space for an as yet unnamed European race on July 21.
Germany’s MotoGP round is one of the best attended on the calendar and the date for next year’s race had been moved from July 14 to 7 last October.
Organisers of the Goodwood Festival of Speed, one of the most popular motorsport gatherings in Britain that regularly features F1 cars and drivers, have also said they will change the date of their event from July 7 to avoid a clash.
Despite the change announced yesterday, there’s no alteration for the first race of the season as Qatar’s iconic International Losail Circuit will open the 2013 MotoGP season.
Motorcycling’s governing body (FIM) published a provisional 19-race calendar, one more than last year, with races pencilled in for the Jerez, Barcelona, Valencia and Motorland Aragon circuits.
The Qatar race will be on April 7, which is the only meeting in the calendar to be held at night.
Spain will again host four rounds of an expanded MotoGP world championship next year despite the economic crisis gripping the country.
Portugal, which held a Grand Prix in Estoril in May, does not feature on the calendar. A new circuit in Austin, Texas, also fill a slot on the calendar while India’s new Buddh Formula One circuit is expected to feature a race in the 2014 season.
The British Grand Prix at Silverstone moves from June to September 1.
Italy will have two races, one of them the San Marino Grand Prix at the Marco Simoncelli Misano Circuit recently renamed after the Grand Prix rider who was killed in a crash in Malaysia last year. The season will end at Valencia’s Ricardo Tormo Circuit on November 10.
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