MotoMatters.com | Kropotkin Thinks

After countless rumors of problems surrounding construction of the track, it has finally been made official: there will be no Hungarian round of MotoGP at the Balatonring in 2009. Hungarian Development Minister Tamás Suchman yesterday told Hungarian press agency that because the Spanish investors had missed the deadline by which they should have submitted a credit application required to help finance the circuit, the Hungarian GP will not take place at Sávoly, where the Balatonring is to be built, in 2009.

Vicente Cotino Escriva, President of Sedesa, the group involved in building the circuit, said in a press statement that "the organizer of the Hungarian MotoGP Grand Prix is asking Dorna and the FIM to change the date of the Hungarian Grand Prix, to allow us to organize it in the spring of 2010, instead of September 2009."

István Gyenesei, the Hungarian Sport Minister, said "I voiced my concerns a month ago about the decreasing probability that the Sávoly track would be finished on time. Unfortunately, the events of the past month have confirmed my fears that not very much has happened. I've done all I could to secure the Hungarian MotoGP race, and we are still looking at alternatives. We haven't given up on the race being organized this year, and maybe we could run it at the Hungaroring."

In response to this suggestion, Frank Thomas, Vice President of the Hungaroring Sport Zrt, said that having the race there "is physically possible, but we would have to take a number of steps very quickly."

UPDATE - Official Dorna Press Release

This evening, the news revealed by MotoGPMatters.com earlier today was confirmed by Dorna, who issued the following press release:

Balatonring Zrt., event promoter for the Hungarian Grand Prix, have spoken to MotoGP Rights Holders Dorna Sports with a request to postpone this year’s race until 2010. The request will be sent to the FIM for approval.

The decision owes to a delay in the construction process that means that the circuit would not be complete in time for the September 20th race, a result of harsh winter weather and the current financial situation that has hit Hungary and affected the funding process.