MotoGP originally planned to host its British Grand Prix at the new Circuit of Wales. It's not built yet, so Donington Park agreed to host the race this year. Donington now claims that the Circuit of Wales didn't meet its agreed payment deadlines for the back-up venue to host the race, so that plan is now kaput.
Previously, Silverstone Circuit was the host for MotoGP's round in Britain, but with the shiny new venue that was supposed to be the Circuit of Wales in the works, MotoGP jumped ship. Silverstone was unsurprisingly disappointed in the move, but now, MotoGP may need them more than ever.
The Circuit of Wales is in a bit of trouble. According to the BBC, the $479 million race track project in Ebbw Wale, Wales, is to be the subject of a public inquiry in March. The inquiry is over the request to take over 600 acres of land next to an industrial estate in order to build the race track. That's how far behind they are, folks: there isn't even a finalized site yet. Should the plan to build in Ebbw Vale fall through, the Blaenau Gwent council has offered 800 acres elsewhere to replace it.
Construction on the Circuit of Wales was supposed to start in February, but now they must pass this final inquiry before construction can begin. The circuit won promotion rights for the British Grand Prix round of the MotoGP championship. Consequently, they searched for another site to host the 2015 race.
Donington Park was supposed to host the race for the Circuit of Wales, but now they say that the Circuit of Wales failed to meet the payment deadlines outlined in their agreement.
"Both the commercial risks and the lack of time are now too great to allow Donington to proceed," said Donington Park in a statement quoted by the BBC. "Therefore Donington Park must withdraw from other participation."
Donington is certainly done waiting for the Circuit of Wales to make up for its late payments. "Circuit of Wales have made it clear to us that they are not now in a position to complete, so we have to withdraw and end the planned arrangement," explained Donington Park managing director Christopher Tate to the BBC.
The Circuit of Wales denies that they are late with any payments to Donington. Instead, they claim that Donington is asking for a significant amount of money to upgrade the track in order to be able to host MotoGP at all.
"Contrary to claims that Circuit of Wales is unable to meet the funding arrangements, we are unwilling to provide the significant funding that DPRL required for the necessary track upgrades to host the British Grand Prix without a signed contractual agreement," explained a statement released by the embattled race track project, as quoted by the BBC.
Meanwhile, Silverstone is pretty eager for the pinnacle of motorcycle racing to make its return:
"Hey, guys! We still exist, and have all the proper upgrades already in place. Yooooo."
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