The Argentina GP at Termas de Rio Honda was meant to represent the third round of the 2024 MotoGP season. However, on 31 January it was officially cancelled by series promoter Dorna Sports.
Due to harsh government spending cuts imposed by Argentina’s new president Javier Milei, the grand prix – which receives considerable public funding – could not be staged.
Has the Argentina GP been cancelled before?
This is the third time in recent years that the Argentina GP has been scrubbed from the MotoGP schedule.
In 2020, the race was forced off the calendar due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and could not be staged in 2021 due to the ongoing travel restrictions in place because of the virus.
The only race to be staged outside of Europe in 2021 was the Americas Grand Prix in Texas, which was held in October of that year.
The 2021 Argentina GP would likely have faced trouble even without the COVID pandemic, however, as a major fire wrecked the pit complex building early that year.
When was the last Argentina GP staged?
Marco Bezzecchi, VR46 Racing Team
Photo by: Media VR46
MotoGP raced in Argentina in 2023, with VR46 Ducati rider Marco Bezzecchi scoring a maiden victory.
The event was also staged in 2022, though was cut down to two days as delays in freight arriving from Indonesia mean practice could not be staged on the Friday. Aprilia and Aleix Espargaro scored an historic maiden MotoGP victory that year in Sunday’s grand prix.
Aside from the 2020 and 2021 cancellations, the Argentina GP at Termas de Rio Honda had been staged every year since 2014, when the event returned to the calendar following a 15-year hiatus.
Prior to 2014, the Argentina GP was staged 10 times between the series’ first visit to the country in 1961 and 1999.
Those races were held at the Autodromo Oscar y Juan Galves in the country’s capital of Buenos Aires.
Who has the most wins at the Argentina GP?
Due to the event’s sporadic appearances on the MotoGP calendar before finding permanency in 2014, no one rider has proved totally dominant.
Tom Phillis, Hugh Anderson, Mick Doohan and Marc Marquez all have the most grand prix wins in the country at three, though only five-time 500cc world champion Doohan and six-time MotoGP champion Marquez’s were in the premier class.
Valentino Rossi, Yamaha Factory Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi has two grand prix wins in Argentina, the…
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