Kazakhstan’s Sokol International Racetrack To Host 2023 MotoGP Race

The former Soviet republic will become the 30th country to host a Grand Prix.

Dustin Wheelen

By: Dustin Wheelen

Sep 28, 2022 at 3:47pm ET

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MotoGP will host 20 races in 2022. That number already eclipses the series’ 19-round single-season record. Had organizers moved forward with the Grand Prix of Finland scheduled for July 10, 2022, the 2022 MotoGP season would have consisted of 21 rounds. Now, it looks like Dorna will surpass even that figure after adding Kazakhstan to its 2023 docket.

The Central Asian country and former Soviet republic will become the 30th nation to host a motorcycle Grand Prix. Located on the outskirts of Kazakhstan’s most populated city, Almaty, the Sokol International Racetrack features a 2.8-mile circuit made up of 13 corners. The course will be the 74th venue to hold a Grand Prix since 1949.

The new deal will bring MotoGP to the region for the next five years (starting in 2023) as the series ramps up its efforts to reach new markets, fanbases, and customers. Just one week ago, on September 21, 2022, Dorna Sports CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta announced a new partnership with promoter Fairstreet Sports to bring the Grand Prix to India. That deal will also begin in 2023, with India’s Buddh International Circuit hosting the Grand Prix of Bharat.

But, wait, there’s more. On September 5, 2022, Ezpeleta also signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Saudi Motorsport Company (SMC) for a long-term collaboration. The agreement will help Saudi Arabia construct a brand-new world-class race track to hold future MotoGP races.

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The circuit will need to gain approval from the International Motorcycling Federation (FIM) and International Automobile Federation (FIA) before hosting any events. MotoGP hasn’t laid out a timeline for the future Saudi round, but we can expect the GP schedule to further expand in the coming years.

In the immediate future, the Kazakhstani and Indian rounds should increase MotoGP’s single-season race record as well as its global appeal. The series hasn’t revealed its 2023 calendar just yet, but we anticipate a provisional schedule by the end of November, 2022.