(Reuters) – Kazakhstan will try again to make a MotoGP debut in 2024, after not being ready this year, on a record 22-race calendar that also sees the return of the Aragon Grand Prix as one of four races in Spain.
The provisional calendar published on Wednesday also returns Qatar to the March 8-10 season-opening slot after November this year due to track upgrades and resurfacing for Formula One.
Kazakhstan agreed a five-year deal in 2022 for races at the Sokol International Racetrack outside Almaty, with the first initially scheduled for last July.
The 2024 race was listed for June 16 subject to contract and homologation.
India, which made its debut this month at the Buddh International Circuit near New Delhi, returns subject to contract as the 16th round and first of a triple-header with Indonesia and Japan in late September and early October.
A second triple-header of Australia, Thailand and Malaysia follows in late October and early November.
Spain’s four rounds are in Jerez, Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya, Motorland Aragon and Valencia with Portugal’s Algarve circuit making up the Spanish-run sport’s Iberian quintet.
Hungary’s Balaton Park circuit was listed as a reserve event
Next season also sees the start of a transition to fully sustainable fuels, with a minimum of 40% non-fossil fuel in 2024 rising to 100% by 2027.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Pritha Sarkar)