Indonesia Really Deserves To Be Included In The MotoGP Calendar, These Are The Factors That Cause It

Indonesia has the biggest MotoGP fan in the world, so it really deserves the opportunity to enter the race calendar. (Photo: ANTARA)

JAKARTA - There are not many world-class international tournaments that regularly include Indonesia in their competition calendar. Among the most recognized and high profile is the badminton tournament Indonesia Masters. Now Indonesia is adding to the list with MotoGP Indonesia.

The world's most prestigious motorcycle race includes the Pertamina Mandalika Circuit in West Nusa Tenggara in its competition calendar starting this year. This race is the second series after the Qatar MotoGP in early March. This year a total of 21 races were held, making it the longest calendar in MotoGP history. The Indonesian MotoGP will soon be held on March 18-20 or two weeks after Enea Bastianini won the first series in Qatar. For Indonesia itself, this is the first MotoGP after 25 years of no longer being contested in Qatar. Indonesia since 1997 when Tadayuki Okada became the MotoGP champion in Sentul, or a year after Mick Doohan became the champion at the same place.

The Mandalika Circuit is the first MotoGP street circuit after Opatija in Croatia which was last used in 1977 when the MotoGP calendar still had the Yugoslav MotoGP. The Mandalika track route is open to the public during non-racing, however this circuit is specially designed to meet modern safety standards. Together with Mandalika This year, the KymiRing circuit in Finland, which has been inactive since 1982, has also re-entered the competition calendar. Meanwhile, next year it will be the turn of the Motodrome Magyar Nemzetkozi circuit in Hungary to enter the MotoGP calendar. The presence of Indonesia again in the MotoGP calendar is appropriate, if you look at the very large MotoGP fan base in this country. No country can exclude Indonesia as the largest MotoGP fan base in the world.