This season of MotoGP was supposed to be ground-breaking. Apart from sprint races, which have been a major action elevator so far, the other record attempts seem to fall a bit flat. Namely, the cancelling of Sokol dealt a heavy blow to the 2023 MotoGP aspirations.
2023, the year of many planned innovations in the MotoGP paddock just received a major blow. Sokol, which originally should’ve hosted the first ever Grand Prix of Kazakhstan, will no longer happen this year. Originally planned for the beginning of July, MotoGP officials cancelled the outing in the CIS without replacement.
The announcement came in a very quick post, which almost seems like kind of a side note. Following is the entire message posted on the official MotoGP website.
Now, as many people already deducted, the “global operational challenges” can mean many different things. However, instead of speculating, let’s look at the facts. Homologation remains the main reason for Sokol’s cancelling which may be all too familiar with people who remember the KymiRing.
Flashbacks of Finland
In case you don’t remember, the KymiRing should have held the Finnish Grand Prix for the first time in what seems like eons. It didn’t, though. In fact, it went bust and now lies dormant in the Finnish woods close to the Russian border.
Fans of new or obscure race tracks world wide wince. On the contrary, many people within the MotoGP paddock apparently rejoice at the fact of not having to book hospitalities in the region. Understandable, Sokol is somewhere in the middle of nowhere, in the great steppes of Kazakhstan.
On a positive note, Sokol looks like a cool circuit. That’s why I cannot help but look forward to any mods of the circuit for either Assetto Corsa or rFactor 2. Let’s hope for at least digital representation of the circuit.
What are your thoughts on this whole situation? Let us know in the comments or over at our discord.