The construction site of the KymiRing – maybe it will work out on the third attempt with the Grand Prix of Finland. There are still no photographs of a completed route, including the surrounding works. The premiere of 2020 fell victim to the pandemic and in the following year the reason for the cancellation was concealed, or the corona situation was used as a pretext. Open and honest communication is not one of the strengths of those responsible for MotoGP.

The MotoGP calendar for next season – will it work this time?

After the first two Corona years, FIM and Dorna just published the new calendar for next season. Almost exactly a month earlier than the bad joke from last year, this time there is even a real chance of realization. At the beginning of November 2020, we were surprised that those responsible had drawn up a plan that was absolutely unrealistic. We also found it interesting that this was generally adopted and printed completely uncritically from practically all sports portals. Except for our side, almost everyone was satisfied with the note “subject to the development of the corona pandemic”. It was just stupid that every attentive observer had to realize that it was an absolutely unrealistic calendar, which had to be changed promptly afterwards. Actually, almost exactly like the year before. This proved in an uncomfortable way how little most had learned from the first Covid-19 year. Both Dorna and FIM are meant, as well as the majority of journalists who, without using their own brain, simply copied what input they received. The following is the first version for 2022 in the hope that it will not be such an illusion as in the first two Corona years before.

Exciting starting position for Italy – the first season without Valentino Rossi

In addition to the Czech Grand Prix in Brno, Mugello and Misano were always the most expensive spots on the MotoGP map in terms of ticket prices. For the route in the Apennines and the Masaryk Ring, which is no longer on the calendar, as in Jerez de la Frontera, the sinfully expensive hotel prices were a nuisance year after year for fans without camping attitudes. On the Adriatic coast near Rimini, this was absolutely no problem for the San Marino GP, because there are plenty of accommodations for every budget during the off-season and for the Catalan race and there is no emergency on Grand Prix weekends. For Italy, the zero hour will start in 2022, because the old master with the number 46 will no longer be there.

Valentino Rossi (Petronas Yamaha SRT, right in the picture) and behind him Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda) have not fought at eye level since the Catalan’s comeback. But although the Honda Hope has won two races since his return, it currently no longer looks like the little Spaniard will be able to reconnect with his prime. For the Italian, more than two decades of racing will come to an end at the end of 2021 and never before has a driver left such a large void.

How does the absence of the most popular driver of all time affect visitor numbers?
In this respect, it will be interesting to see whether the exorbitant prices of earlier years can be maintained in the country of origin of the pizza. A decline in visitors is also conceivable, should the organizers, similar to Imola 2019, speculate about the daring pricing. At that time, only a fraction of the visitors came compared to the previous year, which could not be concealed by clearly falsified official information. As in 2018, we were also on site at the so-called Dernière and saw with our own eyes how sparsely the grandstands were still filled after the price doubled.

Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha, left) with his compatriot Johann Zarco (Pramac Ducati Racing) – the age of the French in MotoGP has dawned. Currently, hardly anyone can dispute the title for 2021 for the younger of the two, he is currently the absolute measure of things in the premier class.

Misrepresentations in the press are commonplace
Some readers of even well-known portals and magazines often wonder about the poorly oriented writers and their misunderstood connections. For example, there was a lot of incorrect information to be read on a German website. Of course, the KymiRing was already on the calendar in 2020 and was not added for next season. In addition, the Mandalika Ring in Indonesia did not come as a replacement date, but the route has been in the plan for next year’s calendar for almost two years. After all, some journalists have at least learned something for the third Corona year compared to last season. In the meantime, when the calendar is published for next year, they are now emphasizing that events such as Australia and Asia are still considered quite questionable. Everything therefore indicates that the supposedly imminent end of the corona pandemic is still a long way off.

The Moto2 starting grid 2019 photographed by us on site at the season opener – three years later, the first race is to start again in the desert state. But in contrast to 2021, there should no longer be an improvised double race due to poor planning due to the omission of other events.

Unless otherwise stated, this applies to all images (© MotoGP).