Thailand is keen to bring the MotoGP World Championship to the country for next season, according to the Bangkok Post.
The Chang International Circuit, which opened its doors in 2015, has been staging a round of the World Superbike Championship since then and has been received incredibly well by the bike-mad locals each year.
Dorna Sports, MotoGP’s commercial rights holder, has been keen to expand its presence in South East Asia, as it is a growing market for the motorcycle industry.
Thailand has been touted before as a potential newcomer to the calendar, alongside Indonesia, for some time and the Bangkok Post has confirmed that the Thai government has set aside money for the race.
“The cabinet on Tuesday allocated 300 million baht (the equivalent of $8.7million) to pay for the right to organise MotoGP, the world’s motorcycle racing championship, for three years,” a report stated.
“The Tourism and Sports Ministry proposed the project as Dorna Sports Group, the rights owner, planned to increase the number of host countries of the popular championship to 21 next year from ’18.
“Finland was already additionally included and the rights owner would choose two more countries. Thailand, Kazakhstan, Indonesia and Hungary are vying for the right.”
A spokesperson from Dorna commented on the situation to motorsport new website Crash.net, stating: I can say that it is a possibility that Thailand joins the calendar in 2018, but only a possibility.”
At present, most races have multi-year contracts to host a round of the MotoGP World Championship, so making room for the considerable number of hosts looking for a spot will be difficult.
However, with manufacturers regularly staging events in the region, as well as Dorna’s push to bring up the next generation of Asian riders with the Asia Talent Cup, it seems highly likely MotoGP will be visiting Thailand in the near future.
