MotoGP organisers revealed its provisional 2022 calendar on Thursday, unveiling the series’ largest ever schedule, with 21 events in total, including two all-new encounters.
With MotoGP having had to make do with reduced calendars as a result of the Covid-19 global pandemic across the past two seasons – with only 14 races taking place in 2020 before rising to 18 this year – the 2022 schedule will feature a record-breaking 21 contests across 17 separate countries.
Qatar will as usual host the season opener, on March 6, before Indonesia returns for the first time since 1997, at the all-new Mandalika International street circuit.
The Argentina Grand Prix will make its welcome return in early April a week before the Americas GP, with the Circuit of the Americas based encounter returning to its traditional April date after being run in October this season due to the pandemic.
Portugal kicks off the European leg of the season towards the end of the month before its usual run of races at Jerez, Le Mans for the French GP, Mugello for the Italian GP before the Catalan contest at Barcelona in early June.
The German GP at the Sachsenring takes place on the June 19 a week before the classic Dutch TT at Assen, while the inaugural Finnish GP – due to make its debut after two years of cancellations related to the pandemic – will host the final event before the summer break in mid-July.
The British GP at Silverstone swaps in the order with Austria to take over as the first race after the month pause at the start of August, the Red Bull Ring encounter staged a fortnight later.
The San Marino GP at Misano and the Aragon GP bring to an end the main European leg of the series towards the latter part of September before the Japanese GP returns for the first time since 2019 a week after the Motorland Aragon round.
The also-returning Thailand GP takes place as the final race in the triple header with the previous two events, while the Australian and Malaysian contests also make a much-anticipated comeback as back-to-back races in late October.
Valencia will host the traditional season finale at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo on November 6, the curtain closer to MotoGP’s largest-ever campaign.
Dorna also confirmed the pre-season structure as part of the 2022 announcement, with Sepang in Malaysia continuing to host both the Shakedown Test as well as the official first running of the year towards the start of February, while Mandalika will run the second and final test running a week later.
The Moto2 and Moto3 classes will receive a single three-day test at Jerez two weeks after the premier class competitors finish up.
