MotoGP on the streets of Adelaide…
The connection between Phillip Island Circuit administration and the Australian Grand Prix Company, an arm of the Victorian Authorities that additionally places on the Albert Park Formulation One Grand Prix, has been below pressure for a while.
Phillip Island Circuit instantly promotes and organises Australia’s spherical of the Superbike World Championship. The Australian Bike Grand Prix, nevertheless, operates below a special mannequin. For MotoGP, the venue is successfully leased to the Australian Grand Prix Company, which assumes accountability for occasion promotion and supply along side Dorna Sports activities and the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM).
As equipment efficiency has elevated, so too have circuit security requirements. To safe MotoGP’s continuation at Phillip Island by the present contract cycle, which concludes later this yr, the FIM and Dorna stipulated a sequence of infrastructure upgrades.
Over the previous three years, these works have been substantial. They included new particles fencing and barrier programs, significantly round Turns 11 and 12, extensions to gravel traps, and extra paved run-off, most notably at Flip 1. These enhancements are defined on this interview I conducted in 2023 with Matthew Walton, General Manager of Design and Construction for the Australian Grand Prix Corporation.
Funding for these upgrades was in the end underwritten by the Victorian Authorities following negotiations between the Australian Grand Prix Company, Phillip Island Circuit administration led by Andrew Fox, and circuit house owners Linfox Property Group.
These enhancements ensured compliance with the present settlement. Nonetheless, discussions relating to an additional contract extension past 2026 seem to have centred on further capital works, this time focussing on pit lane infrastructure and spectator amenities, areas lengthy recognized as needing modernisation.
In latest months, public commentary surrounding the occasion’s future has intensified. From this vantage level, it seems each events have sought to border the narrative to strengthen their negotiating positions over who ought to fund the following part of redevelopment.
The deadlock now appears to have been overtaken by occasions.
The South Australian Authorities is known to be within the remaining phases of efficiently signing off on a bid to host MotoGP on the streets of Adelaide from 2027. If realised, it might signify a major shift in Australia’s motorcycling panorama and a reversal of kinds, recalling when Melbourne secured the Formulation One Grand Prix from Adelaide within the mid-Nineteen Nineties.
The business context has additionally developed. Liberty Media accomplished its acquisition of Dorna in July 2025. This week, the organisation was rebranded as MotoGP Sports activities Leisure Group, reflecting Liberty’s broader positioning of MotoGP as a worldwide leisure property.
Liberty Media’s portfolio additionally consists of the Formulation One World Championship, the place avenue circuits in main metropolitan centres kind a key element of the business mannequin. The attraction is obvious: proximity to CBD hospitality, company infrastructure, and premium leisure belongings that align with fashionable occasion economics.
Phillip Island affords world-class racing and pure amphitheatre viewing, however its amenities have been conceived in a special period. A city-based occasion supplies a definite business proposition.
The logistical and security challenges related to setting up a brief avenue circuit able to internet hosting MotoGP are substantial. Homologation necessities, floor preparation, barrier programs, medical amenities, and paddock infrastructure should meet the FIM’s highest requirements. Delivering that inside a 2027 timeframe would require decisive motion, and work would want to begin very shortly.
Nonetheless, political momentum in South Australia seems important, and a number of sources point out a proper announcement might be imminent, as quickly as tomorrow. If ratified as anticipated, it is going to affirm that the following chapter of MotoGP in Australia might be written on the streets of Adelaide relatively than throughout Phillip Island’s picturesque backdrop. Adelaide hosted Formulation One on its streets from 1985 to 1995, earlier than F1 moved to Melbourne, and Adelaide at present hosts V8 Supercars on its avenue circuit.
There are additionally indications this will not be the one shift in Australia’s worldwide motorbike racing panorama. Sources recommend that the Superbike World Championship may relocate to The Bend Motorsport Park from 2028. If the MotoGP transfer is formally introduced tomorrow, anticipate Phillip Island to tug out all of the stops to try to guarantee WorldSBK doesn’t observe.
Whereas The Bend is a relatively fashionable facility, internet hosting WorldSBK would seemingly require further focused funding to satisfy the championship’s full operational and hospitality necessities. That funding case might be strengthened by strategic flexibility, together with the choice to stage an interim MotoGP spherical at The Bend if the Adelaide avenue circuit can’t be accomplished in time.
The Bend is privately owned and contains a 4.95-kilometre structure used for ASBK and most different occasions, in addition to a 7.7-kilometre ‘GT’ structure.
Senior administration from Dorna Sports activities met with Sam Shahin at The Bend Motorsport Park final yr, and it’s understood the South Australian businessman has performed a major position in discussions between the South Australian Authorities and MotoGP’s business rights holders.
Beneath is a lap of the 4.95-kilometre structure I recorded with Troy Herfoss on an Australian Superbike simply after the circuit first opened in 2018.
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