Hungary announced last July that it planned to build a motorcycling circuit to host MotoGP competitions, with the first race scheduled for September 20 and now seems that this leg is set to be canceled due to delays in construction of the new circuit.
The 4,650-metre long Balatonring located near Savoly,180 kilometres from Budapest near the Lake Balaton holiday area was added to the 2009 MotoGP calendar.
Motorcycle grand prix racing is very popular in Hungary due to the success of 2007 125cc world champion Gabor Talmacsi.
The blame has been pointed at Spanish group Sedesa, which is building the 80-million-euro track, as the company failed to begin its part of the construction work on time.
“So, it’s very likely that the circuit won’t be ready and the race won’t be able to go ahead.
But we’ve had no official word from the Spanish side” said the minister for local government, Istvan Gyenesei.
He insisted that the Hungarian side had done all the necessary ground work for construction to begin this month.
The management company overseeing is Balatonring Zrt, 30 percent of which is controlled by the Hungarian Tourism board and the remaining 70 percent by Spain’s Worldwide Circuit Management S.
LRumours suggest that the new Portimao circuit in Portugal could replace the Balatonring event.