MotoGP has unveiled its planned 2024 season calendar ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix, with 22 races on the schedule being the highlight alongside a return for the Aragon GP.
The new calendar shapes up largely the same as this year’s, although the Qatar GP returns to its traditional season-opening position. The event at the Lusail International Circuit is taking place in mid-November this year due to upgrades being made on the track during the year ahead of its return to the Formula 1 schedule.
The season-opening race also takes place two weeks earlier than this year’s first event in Portugal, the weekend of the 8th to the 10th of March hosting the curtain raiser.
The rest of the calendar takes a very similar shape to 2023’s event line-up, with the inaugural Kazakhstan GP penciled in to take place ahead of the Dutch TT in mid-June after the 2023 edition of the race was canceled earlier this year due to difficulties homologating the new Sokol International Circuit for competition.
The Aragon GP also makes a welcome return to the calendar after missing out on a 2023 date due to local elections taking place in the region, the race slotting in between the Austrian and San Marino events at the end of August.
As in 2023, there will be a pair of triple-header rounds taking place across the flyaway races towards the back end of the campaign. The Indian, Indonesian, and Japanese GPs will be staged across the end of September and early October before the Australian, Thai and Malaysian encounters complete the long-haul portion of the year. The latter trio will take place from the end of October to the start of November.
The record-breaking 22-race season will end a week earlier than this season as a result of its earlier start, with the traditional term ender held in Valencia going ahead from the 15th to the 17th of November.
