The 2013 provisional MotoGP calendar was released the other day and it confirmed that Spain will again be hosting four GP events.
There was a lot dismay from many fans from other countries who believe the series is turning more into a Spanish national championship with many questioning the wisdom of holding so many races in a country that is caught right in the middle of the Eurozone crisis, with the latest austerity measures that President Rajoy has imposed creating social unrest and unemployment is at 25% and rising, and four big regions forced to ask for bailouts and Catalonia is pushing for independence.
With this situation in mind, the Spanish circuits have been forced to renegotiate Dorna’s sanctioning fees and the first circuit to get a reduction will be Motorland Aragon which will be holding this weekend’s 14th Grand Prix round.
The Motorland Aragon circuit and the Government of Aragon has a contract with Dorna until 2016, but they will now save 17% on those yearly fees.
The previous five year contract was stipulated for 38,679,418 euros, but now will cost 32,048,661 euros and it goes into effect immediately.
Despite the tough economic crisis ticket prices will range between 55 and 110 euros but without applying the recent 2% increase in VAT that the Sapinish government imposed earlier this month.
It will be interesting to see this weekend’s attendance numbers to see if Dorna was right in keeping four GP races on the Iberian pennisula.
Motorland Aragon had more that 100,000 spectators over the three-day weekends in 2010 and 2011.