“Hungary could start hosting MotoGP races beginning in 2022”, Minister for Innovation and Technology László Palkovics announced at Saturday’s rounds of the European Rally Championships taking place in and around Nyiregyhaza.

The Minister said negotiations have been ongoing for some time with the company that owns MotoGP’s commercial rights, with which a memorandum of understanding has also been concluded, and the next step is for the government to come to a final decision by 28 February on, amongst others, the location and the measures relating to hosting the races.

“The strategy for the development of Hungarian motorsports will be put before the Cabinet during the course of November and early December, which contains a host of targets and measures and which, in addition to improving the sport’s success rate and its effect on tourism, is necessary because in Hungary the success of the economy is strongly determined by the automotive industry”, the Minister for Innovation and Technology declared. “The Hungarian economy grew by 5.2 percent in the second quarter of this year, which is an outstanding figure in European comparison”, he added.

“According the document that includes the strategy, the most important areas of intervention are the development of the Hungaroring race track and Hungarian sport infrastructure, mapping further opportunities for Hungary to host international sports events, the drawing up of a transport safety action plan, and the development of race engineer training”, Mr. Palkovics said, summarising the elements of the strategy.

Chairman of Parliament’s Defence and Law Enforcement Committee Lajos Kósa spoke about the fact that a new race track could be constructed in Eastern Hungary in the interests of hosting MotoGP races, and highlighted that hosting a MotoGP race is capable of hugely increasing international awareness of Hungary in itself, but can also be useful with relation to transport safety issues.

“It’s like a pyramid, with street biking, scooters and electric two-wheeled vehicles at the bottom, and MotoGP at the top”, Mr. Kósa said, adding that it is the government’s firm intent for the new track to be established at a location in Eastern Hungary that offers the full number of available race days during the summer period.

“We must deal with transport safety measures involving two-wheeled vehicles because in Hungary there are currently 200 thousand bikers who use their vehicles with weekly regularity during the season and a further 100 thousand who use their vehicles more rarely, but the number of registered motorbikes in Hungary exceeds one million”, he emphasised, highlighting the fact that based on various studies, the “two-wheeled alternative” seems promising with relation to big city transport.

At the press conference, Gábor Talmácsi, the sport’s only Hungarian world champion to date, said he welcomes the government’s targets and regards it as important that the country should have a motorsport strategy. “Because discovering and training the talents of the future cannot be assured without the support of the government”, he added. “As a lifetime member of the MotoGP family, a race hosted by Hungary represents a huge opportunity”, he added.

(MTI)