MotoMatters.com | Kropotkin Thinks

The fact that the races at the Motorland Aragon circuit were so eventful rather overshadowed the fact that a lot of news emerged during the weekend. In part perhaps because of the way it sorted of leaked out rather than being announced. So here's a quick rundown of some of the things we learned.

Calendar shake up

For the past decade or so, the MotoGP calendar has looked pretty predictable. Circuits may come and go, but the shape of the calendar has looked largely unchanged.

That looks set to change in 2025. Apart from starting in Buriram, Thailand, instead of Qatar, there races entering the calendar and established races being moved around. Last Wednesday we learned that Brno is set to be added to the schedule, though a date for the race is yet to be announced. In previous years, Brno has been back to back with the Austrian round at the Red Bull Ring, but talk around the paddock has it that this will not be the case in 2025.

There will also be a brand new track on the calendar. On September 19th, a press conference is to be held in Hungary to announced that the Balaton Park Circuit is to host a race in 2025. The track was announced as a reserve circuit for MotoGP and added to the 2024 WorldSBK calendar last year, subject to homologation. But the Hungary round of World Superbikes was quietly canceled, and Balaton Park was never an option to replace Kazakhstan when it was canceled. So there is still work to be done at the track.

Portimão out

Balaton Park is likely to take the place of Portimão on the 2025 calendar. The Portuguese circuit saw 72,000 spectator visit the track in March this year, but that does not appear to be enough to make the race viable. The track has managed to keep hosting the race with support from regional and national government, but after the elections earlier this year, the willingness to provide financial support for the event has declined.

Miguel Oliveira, who has close ties to the circuit, explained the situation on Saturday in Aragon. "It is a shame. The Grand Prix has been organized through a lot of effort of the Algarve administration. They had local municipalities' support, to pay the fee to Dorna. Zero intervention of the government. So for the GP to go forward, we need the government to pay the fee. As simple as that," the Trackhouse Aprilia rider told us.

The Portuguese government needed to understand the economic benefits of the race, Oliveira explained. "We need the government to understand that they benefit the most from this situation. So the MotoGP brings a lot of money to the region. A lot of prestige image-wise to Portugal and we do need the government to understand this and make a decision to go forward. Because to do it privately, the management of Algarve, they would rather rent the track to any customer, than actually having to pay someone to have MotoGP there, it's just it doesn't make any sense."

The death of Paulo Pinheiro, the driving force behind the creation of the Autodromo do Algarve and the track's CEO, likely also plays a part here. Pinheiro was a dynamic presence who embraced MotoGP and motorcycle racing enthusiastically, having previously backed the Parkalgar World Supersport team which hired such riders as Eugene Laverty, Craig Jones, Miguel Praia, and Josh Hayes.

This also solves Dorna's problem of rotating races between the five tracks on the Iberian peninsula, Portimão, Jerez, Valencia, Aragon, and Barcelona. The stated aim was to hold races at four of the five circuits, but it proved difficult to take races away from tracks like Valencia and Jerez, which were immensely popular with fans.

We will find out more when the calendar is finally released. More announcements are expected over the next week or so, with the actual calendar due between Misano 1 and Misano 2.

Zeelenberg to leave Trackhouse Aprilia

There has been no official announcement, but rumors were circulating in Aragon that team manager Wilco Zeelenberg would be leaving the Trackhouse Aprilia setup at the end of 2025. Team principal Davide Brivio confirmed the news speaking to MotoGP pit lane reporter Simon Crafar. "This is something that we discussed. We took this decision."

This is something of a surprise. Zeelenberg was one of the founding members of what was then the Petronas Yamaha squad who took over from Tech3 as the satellite Yamaha team, together with Razlan Razali and Johan Stigefelt. Stigefelt left after an acrimonious split when Petronas pulled out, and Razali was forced out when Trackhouse took over what had become the RNF team.

Brivio paid homage to Zeelenberg for his work in setting up the team and making it such a success. "A big credit to Wilco for what he's done. Honestly speaking, I arrived and I found a team that he has built through the years. The team also for the most part is not going to change for next year. So big credit for what he has built up. And then as Trackhouse, we thought that maybe going into the future, we had to find some different direction. It's sad from one side, it's business on the other side. It's always a difficult situation, and it's been very had to come to this conclusion."

Zeelenberg has not spoken publicly about the split, but rumor suggests this was not his decision. It looks like the final step in a process of Trackhouse and Brivio shaping the team for the future and leaving what they see as the past behind.

The riders who have worked with Zeelenberg were surprised at the move. "It's difficult for me to say something honestly," Raul Fernandez said. "I have a good relationship with Wilco, but at the end I am not who chooses the people. So for me it's a disappointment, because I have a really good relationship with him. Sometimes he helped me, so I cannot say anything bad about Wilco."

Miguel Oliveira believed Zeelenberg's departure was a major loss for Trackhouse. "Wilco is a huge asset for the team. His job is of course related to all of us, and he's much closer to us in terms of just getting to understand what we need, talking to us. As he was an ex rider, he understands maybe our frustrations, our way of thinking a little bit better. Gives good advice." Oliveira is leaving for the new Pramac Yamaha squad anyway, so the departure of Zeelenberg would not affect him directly. "I can't say he will be missed on my side because I won't be there, but for sure it's a loss for the team."

Zeelenberg is believed to want to stay in the paddock. He is very highly regarded as a team manager, and as someone who can manage riders and get the best out of them. He is likely to land somewhere soon.

Alex back to Kalex

Kalex founder and chief engineer Alex Baumgärtel was hired by HRC at the start of the year to help them with their chassis development program. The likeable German was spotted in an HRC shirt in the Repsol Honda garage at the Sepang test.

However, he has not been seen in the Honda garage for some races. At Silverstone, reports of a split emerged, and in Aragon, Motorsport.com's Oriol Puigdemont managed to confirm that Baumgärtel was no longer working for HRC.

Though no reason was given, rumor suggests that there was a fundamental lack of communication between Honda's European arm, including Baumgärtel, and the R&D department of HRC back in Japan. With his input seemingly being ignored, Baumgärtel must have felt he had better things to do than contract for HRC. Especially as for the first time in perhaps a decade, Kalex is no longer leading the Moto2 championship. Baumgärtel has plenty of work to do adapting the Kalex Moto2 chassis to work better with the Pirellis.

Rider moves

Finally, two rider signings worth considering, though not in MotoGP. On Tuesday, Aspar confirmed that their Moto3 star David Alonso will be moving up to Moto2 in 2025, to ride the WP-shod CFMOTO machine vacated by Jake Dixon, who is off to join MarcVDS.

Alonso's promotion had been widely expected given the Columbian rider's dominance in the Moto3 class. He will once again face his main challenger for the Moto3 crown, Collin Veijer in Moto2. Veijer has been signed to the Red Bull Ajo Moto2 squad for 2025 and beyond.

The other news this Tuesday comes from WorldSBK. Alvaro Bautista has signed on for one more season with the Aruba.it Ducati team. The Spaniard, who has won two world titles for Ducati, had been pondering retirement, especially as the offer Ducati had made him was well below his current salary. But in the end, Bautista decided to take one more shot at trying to beat Toprak Razgatlioglu to the WorldSBK crown.

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