The future of MotoGP’s Australian Grand Prix appears to be in even more doubt than originally speculated when last year’s event concluded without an expected contract extension beyond 2026.
National media reports in Australia suggested this week that race organisers and the Victoria regional government are at odds with MotoGP promoter Dorna.
As originally reported by The Race after last October’s event, doubts had been raised within the paddock and the wider Australian motorcycling community about the Phillip Island race’s future.
The iconic circuit is both geographically isolated, sitting two hours from Victorian capital Melbourne, and outdated, with facilities no longer reaching MotoGP standards.
The track was given an unusual 10-year deal in 2016 on the proviso that such long-term security would allow big-picture investment into the circuit's facilities. But it's hard to argue that this has happened.
That is believed to be in large part due to something of a stalemate between circuit owners the Fox family (Australia's largest trucking magnates) and the race promotor, the Victorian state government (through subsidiary the Australian Grand Prix Corporation, which also organises Formula 1's Australian GP at Albert Park in Melbourne).
There had been initial speculation that the Fox family instead favoured moving the race to a new greenfield site in Avalon, on the other side of Port Phillip Bay from the current venue but with better transport links to the city.
However, according to Australian newspaper The Age, the real issue is that Dorna instead wants to move the race to the Albert Park F1 street circuit, something that appears all but impossible given the nature of the track.
The Age then reported this week that a government source familiar with the negotiations told it on Friday that “Dorna had demanded the event be moved to Albert Park in inner Melbourne if the contract is to be renewed” - and that the government in neighbouring state South Australia had instigated talks to host the race on a street circuit in Adelaide.
Albert Park is set to undergo a significant £200million investment in the coming months to improve its facilities for F1 (work that is already under way), and it's believed that AGPC has spoken to Dorna about whether it would be possible to run both MotoGP and F1 at the venue, something theoretically made easier by the bike series' acquisition by F1 owner Liberty Media.
However, even with significant cash on hand to try to make it work, it seems all but impossible that we could see MotoGP machines racing through Melbourne's city centre streets.
Even though the roads that make up the track run through a city park, the venue isn't too short of space. But the big issue is instead the road furniture that surrounds it, with a significant number of trees likely needing to be felled to make the track's run-off areas safe for motorcycle racing - something that is unlikely to pass local scrutiny given Albert Park's shared-space usage.
Current Dorna boss Carmelo Ezpeleta (someone largely expected to be moving towards retirement as part of Liberty’s takeover of MotoGP) has openly flirted with the idea of racing on city street circuits in the past, even while advocating for increased safety in MotoGP.
Whether this is another Ezpeleta-led initiative or whether Liberty is also pushing in this direction remains to be seen; but both parties should expect considerable pushback from the series’ riders and manufacturers should a return to road racing be something that MotoGP is seriously contemplating in the immediate future.
