{"id":242975,"date":"2025-11-04T08:45:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T08:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/242975\/"},"modified":"2025-11-04T08:45:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T08:45:09","slug":"thailand-concludes-negotiations-for-new-motogp-contract","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/242975\/","title":{"rendered":"Thailand \u2018concludes negotiations\u2019 for new MotoGP contract"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Thailand\u2019s MotoGP rider, Somkiat Chantra, may be moving to WorldSBK for 2026, but the country has \u2018successfully concluded\u2019 a new five-year deal to host the grand prix world championship.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s according to a report in The Nation, which says the new agreement, running from 2027 to 2031, will soon be submitted to the Thai Cabinet for approval.<\/p>\n<p>Sports Authority of Thailand (SAT} Governor Kongsak Yodmani said the new deal includes \u2018a slight increase\u2019 in the licensing fee, but \u2018emphasised that Thailand\u2019s rate remains competitive compared with other host nations\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>Previous speculation suggested that the Buriram MotoGP round was under threat <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crash.net\/f1\/news\/1074597\/1\/thailand-government-approves-12-billion-plan-bangkok-f1-race\" data-entity-type=\"external\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">due to Thailand&#8217;s F1 ambitions<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>After initially hosting <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crash.net\/wsbk\" data-entity-type=\"external\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">WorldSBK<\/a>, Buriram\u2019s Chang International Circuit held the first Thai <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crash.net\/motogp\" data-entity-type=\"external\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">MotoGP<\/a> in 2018.<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>Aside from covid cancellations in 2020-2021, the track has remained on the grand prix calendar ever since, moving to the coveted role of season-opener for 2025 and 2026.<\/p>\n<p>This year\u2019s event pulled in a weekend crowd of 224,634, including 99,778 on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>Buriram will host the final 2026 MotoGP pre-season test from February 21-22, the same weekend as Chantra\u2019s Honda WorldSBK debut at Phillip Island.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crash.net\/motogp\/racer\/1654\/marc-marquez\" data-entity-type=\"external\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Marc Marquez<\/a> will then kick off his title defence in the opening round of the season from February 27 to March 1.<\/p>\n<p>If Thailand&#8217;s new deal is confirmed, the circuit could host the first-ever 850cc Grand Prix, at the start of the 2027 season.<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>Provisional 2026 MotoGP calendar<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-align-center\">Date<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-align-center\">Event<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-align-center\">Circuit<\/p>\n<p>01-MarTHAILANDChang International Circuit22-MarBRAZILAutodromo Internacional Ayrton Senna29-MarUSACircuit of the Americas12-AprQATARLusail International Circuit26-AprSPAINCircuito de Jerez-Angel Nieto10-MayFRANCELe Mans17-MayCATALONIACircuit de Barcelona-Catalunya31-MayITALYAutodromo Internazionale del Mugello07-JunHUNGARYBalaton Park Circuit21-JunCZECH REPUBLICAutomotodrom Brno28-JunNETHERLANDSTT Circuit Assen12-JulGERMANYSachsenring09-AugGREAT BRITAINSilverstone Circuit30-AugARAGONMotorLand Aragon13-SepSAN MARINOMisano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli20-SepAUSTRIARed Bull Ring-Spielberg04-OctJAPANMobility Resort Motegi11-OctINDONESIAPertamina Mandalika International Circuit25-OctAUSTRALIAPhillip Island01-NovMALAYSIAPetronas Sepang International Circuit15-NovPORTUGALAutodromo Internacional do Algarve22-NovVALENCIACircuit Ricardo Tormo<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Subscribe to our MotoGP Newsletter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thailand\u2019s MotoGP rider, Somkiat Chantra, may be moving to WorldSBK for 2026, but the country has \u2018successfully concluded\u2019&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":242976,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[102089,84,59,28944,102090,4654,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-242975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-buriram-international-circuit","tag-business","tag-gb","tag-motogp","tag-somkiat-chantra","tag-thailand","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242975\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}