Launched as the FIM Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix in 1949, MotoGP is now the oldest and most prestigious motorcycle racing tour in the world. Last September, Dorna Sport, the organiser of MotoGP revealed MotoGP's provisional calendar for the 2023 season with 21 race weekends spread across 19 countries. It's interesting to note that MotoGP confirmed two new series at Sokol International Racetrack in Kazakhstan and Buddh International Circuit in India. So, the number of MotoGP race series in Asia will increase to 8 rounds including Australia while the number of race series in Europe will decrease to 11 rounds for the upcoming season.
The Asian market is getting more and more attractive after the number of spectators at several rounds in Europe declined quite significantly in 2022.
The Asian economy, particularly in the Asia Pacific, has been expanding in recent decades. A growing middle class and rising levels of public consumption are both major contributing factors for the market. Asia has traditionally been the hub of the global automobile market and is home to an industry which sells millions of motorcycles annually. Asia also dominates the list for the percentage of households with a motorcycle or scooter. Therefore, from a commercial perspective, staging more of the MotoGP tour in Asia will be advantageous to Dorna and work as a trigger to attract new fans.
On the other hand, Dorna understands that developing as many talented riders as possible is the best way to maintain the Asian market. The Idemitsu Asia Talent Cup, which Dorna has been organising and facilitating since 2014 in collaboration with Honda as the manufacturer for the most talented young riders in Asia and Oceania, has since established itself as one of the most successful paths on the Road to MotoGP alongside the Red Bull Rookies Cup in Europe.
The automotive industry has a significant impact on the economies of many Asian countries, especially those in the Asia Pacific. As the world steadily recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic, countries with strong tourism industries have begun to open their borders to visitors. The expansion into Asia began with the Malaysian MotoGP Grand Prix at the Sepang International Circuit, which hosted its first race on the tour in 1999.
Last year, 163.567 people showed up for the three-day event last October, which was not far short of the record-breaking 169,827 spectators of the 2018 season, despite it marking the beginning of the post-Valentino Rossi period and during the Covid-19 pandemic. Malaysia has distinguished itself by demonstrating that an unquenchable thirst for the sport among the nation's fans and the government has been quick to incorporate aspects of MotoGP's success into its soft diplomacy strategy. This is also in line with the spirit of Malaysian tourism, which has successfully attracted tens of millions of tourists in the past several years under the slogan "Malaysia Truly Asia".
Meanwhile, Thailand began hosting a leg of the tour in 2018 and this year's Thailand MotoGP Grand Prix attracted 178,463 spectators during race weekend at the Buriram International Circuit. Although that represents a drop following the Covid-19 outbreak, Thais' passion for MotoGP is still strong. The state-owned oil company "PTT Oil and Retail Public Company Limited (OR)", has sponsored the Thai MotoGP Grand Prix since 2018, proving government support for the event.
Indonesia, too has used its Mandalika International Street Circuit leg, which is directly managed by the Indonesia Tourism Development Cooperation (ITDC), as a means of soft promotion to implement its goal of transforming Mandalika into a popular destination for global sports tourism. Indonesia believes that the tourism industry can aid its post-Covid-19 recovery. Since 1997, when Indonesia last hosted the MotoGP Grand Prix (known as the GP500), it has been absent from the event for 25 years. The Indonesian MotoGP Grand Prix at Mandalika recorded 102,801 spectators during race weekend in March 2022 when it returned this year after partially reopening its border for tourism.
Moving into the Middle East, Qatar has been hosting MotoGP at the Losail International Circuit since 2004 and is the only country in the region that is currently on the MotoGP calendar. Saudi Arabia, which is now implementing the "Saudi Vision 2030" programme to diversify its economy and restructure many industries, has also taken note of the huge market potential in this region. Saudi Motor Sport Company and Dorna Sport signed an MoU last September and over the next few years, Dorna plans to stage an annual Grand Prix in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as part of their shared goal to bring the world's premier motorcycle racing series there.
The fact that the governments of these countries fully support and take part in the MotoGP Grand Prix reflects that motorsport provides great possibilities. Asian counties have learned in their understanding that, in a geopolitical context, a country's strength is not only measured in hard power but also in how it is able to deploy soft diplomacy by various means, sport among them, to buttress their pursuit of growth and prosperity.
Satrio Samtha Nugraha is public policy analyst at the Directorate General of Immigration, an Indonesian government agency under the Ministry of Law and Human Rights. He is pursuing a master's degree in International Relations with a focus on the Multipolar World at Kazan Federal University, Russia.
