With little more than two months before the inaugural Kazakhstan Grand Prix, MotoGP abruptly canceled the race on April 26, 2023. The country’s Sokol International Racetrack previously stood to become the 74th venue to hold a Grand Prix since 1949. As the ninth round of the 2023 season and the first race following the series’ customary summer break, the Kazakhstan GP was originally scheduled for July 7-9, 2023.
Instead, MotoGP will scrap the landmark round from its 2023 calendar. Schedule coordinators won’t replace the race either, reducing the total number of 2023 Grands Prix to 20. The organization cites “ongoing homologation works at the circuit, paired with current global operational challenges” as reasons for removing the Kazakhstan GP. In all fairness, organizing body Dorna Sports did denote that the round still hinged on contract negotiations and homologation efforts in its Provisional 2023 MotoGP calendar.
