MotoGP to Austin

It’s official – MotoGP has picked up a new venue in the US.

Rumours had been circling for weeks that Spanish motor media giant Dorna was in negotiations with the Circuit of the Americas track in Austin, Texas. The facility is still under construction, but that didn’t stop Dorna from inking a ten-year deal, starting in 2013, that brings not only all three MotoGP series to the venue, but also Formula 1.

Who’s responsible for the new stop on the schedule? Obviously race organizers and the track’s management hammered out the deal between them, but the press release goes out of its way to thank former MotoGP champ and native Texan Kevin Schwantz as being instrumental to the process.

So, if you’ve always wanted to head to the US and watch a MotoGP race, you’ve got a third option beside the Laguna Seca and Indianapolis tracks, at least for now. Asphalt and Rubber speculates the news from Austin is the death knell for the Indy series, as the track has been under pressure from GP organizers for years to improve its surface – for now, the Austin track will be the only “Grade 1” facility in the US.

Supposedly the Austin series would make it easier for MotoGP to pull out of Indianapolis, especially with Indianapolis’ contract running only year-to-year, but who’s to say for sure? With big changes like the Moto3 class coming in the motorcycle race series, anything is possible.