The German round of MotoGP is to stay at the Sachsenring circuit until 2016. Dorna announced today that they had signed a five-year deal with the ADAC, who own the Sachsenring, to keep the race at the circuit. The race had been under threat earlier, after projected losses for the German GP meant that circuit feared not being able to afford the event.
Dorna’s problem was that there are no real alternatives to the Sachsenring in Germany. Other available circuits like the Lausitzring were not considered suitable, while the Nurburgring in the west of Germany has simply never attracted the crowds that the Sachsenring draws. The Sachsenring track, near the East German city of Chemnitz, draws crowds of over 130,000 on race day, and the event is extremely popular with fans from all around Europe.
With Stefan Bradl making an impressive debut in MotoGP, and with the German market being very important to Dorna, the event had to continue, and the Sachsenring was the best place for the race to be staged. Rumors at Assen suggest that Spanish teams are starting to look to tourism as their best chance of finding sponsorship, and that means giving Spanish tourist destinations high visibility in Northern Europe, where most of their visitors come from. A German round of MotoGP is a key part of that strategy.
Photo: © 2012 Scott Jones / Scott Jones Photography – All Rights Reserved
This article was originally published on MotoMatters, and is republished here on Asphalt & Rubber with permission by the author.
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