The upcoming season will start with the Qatar GP on 18th March and will conclude at Valencia on 18th November
MotoGP has just revealed the dates for its 2018 season. The upcoming season will kick start a week early in Qatar with the races to commence a little early in the day. This has been done in order to avoid the dew that forms once the temperature starts falling.
The Thailand round has been added to the schedule this time. The flyaway rounds will be started in Thailand and there will be a couple of weeks break after the Buriram circuit race. The Japanese, Australian and the Malaysian GPs will take place on consecutive weekends.
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To start off with, the 2018 season will commence with the Qatar GP at the Losail International Circuit on 18th of March. Followed by this, the Argentina GP will take place on 8th April at the Termas de Rio Hondo circuit. After eight months, the 2018 season of MotoGP will finally conclude on 18th November with the Valencia GP at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo.
In other news, Yamaha has recently announced the replacement for its MotoGP sensation Valentino Rossi who injured his leg a couple of weeks back during an off-road accident. The doctors had stated that Rossi will need at least 30 to 40 days to recover. With this, Rossi will not be able to return back on his bike before the Japanese GP that is scheduled in mid October.
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In place of Valentino Rossi, Michael van der Mark will be competing for Yamaha who is currently featuring the team at the World Superbike championship. The 24 year old Dutch rider has not ridden a MotoGP bike before but has won Suzuka endurance race three times in his career.
Here are the dates under the 2018 MotoGP provisional calendar:
| Round 1: 18 March | Qatar GP – Losail International Circuit |
| Round 2: 8 April | Argentina GP – Termas de Rio Hondo |
| Round 3: 22 April | Americas GP – COTA |
| Round 4: 6 May | Spain GP – Jerez de la Frontera |
| Round 5: 20 May | France GP – Le Mans |
| Round 6: 3 June | Italy GP – Mugello |
| Round 7: 17 June | Catalunya GP – Catalunya |
| Round 8: 01 July | Dutch GP TT – Circuit Assen |
| Round 9: 15 July | Germany GP – Sachsenring |
| Round 10: 5 August | Czech Republic GP – Automotodrom Brno |
| Round 11: 12 August | Austrian GP – Red Bull Ring – Spielberg |
| Round 12: 26 August | British GP – Circuit to be announced |
| Round 13: 9 September | San Marino GP – Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli |
| Round 14: 23 September | Aragon GP – MotorLand Aragon |
| Round 15: 7 October | Thai GP – Chang International Circuit |
| Round 16: 21 October | Japanese GP – Twin ring Motegi |
| Round 17: 28 October | Australian GP – Phillip Island |
| Round 18: 4 November | Malaysian GP – Sepang International Circuit |
| Round 19: 18 November | Valencia GP – Ricardo Tormo-Valencia |
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