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MotorLand Aragon will host MotoGP for the next three years thanks to an agreement reached between the Government of Aragon and Dorna for the next three years (2024, 2025, and 2026). On Tuesday, this commitment was signed by the Minister of Environment and Tourism and President of Motorland, Manuel Blasco, and the Dorna Sports CEO, Carmelo Ezpeleta.
According to the previous contract, signed in 2022, Aragon was to have hosted 3 Grands Prix over 5 years, according to the rotation system of Spanish circuits that had been much bandied about but which only worked for one season. In 2023, in fact, a MotoGP race was not held on the Iberian track, leaving room for only two events from 2024 to 2026. With the regional government's determination to revitalize and promote the Aragon circuit, an increase in the number of GP races has been established. This will ensure that the local community will be able to attend a MotoGP Grand Prix every year until 2026.
The move will require a further investment, with a view to territorial development, of 8 million euros, for the Government of Aragon. In fact, Dorna's fee for each Grand Prix amounts to this figure. A study conducted by the Aragon Institute of Development determined that the economic impact of the circuit amounts to 47 million euros, in the years in which it hosts a GP. According to the analysis, each spectator spends 211.20 Euros per day and 463.5 Euros per stay. The figure includes the 5,568 people involved in the paddock, including riders, teams, organizers, stewards and staff, with an average stay of 5.20 days and an average weighted expenditure of around 93 Euros for accommodation, catering, transport and other expenses .
The circuit, however, will also have to dig into its wallet because the FIM Safety Commission had requested the replacement of the curbs in turns 7, 10, 15 and 17 and a new asphalt, as the current one is already 14 years old. The work began yesterday, will last 3 months (therefore until the end of June), will cost 6.2 million euros and will include the replacement of the curbs, the construction of new drainage systems, the modification of the run-off areas and, of course, the installation of the new asphalt for a renovation of a total surface area of 75,000 square meters.
Motorland has therefore invested to remain in a MotoGP calendar that aims to expand into new parts of the world, but seems to be increasingly entrenched in Spain, where 4 Grands Prix are held (in addition to Aragon: Barcelona, Jerez and Valencia). After all, with the loss of Argentina and the salvaging of India and Kazakhstan at the last minute, without the dear old Iberian peninsula a 20 GP per season calendar would be a mirage.
