MotoGP has announced a replacement for the long-in-doubt inaugural 2024 Kazakhstan Grand Prix, electing to fill its place with a second race at Misano.
In doing so, the series has set up a clash with another Italian round of MotoGP promoter Dorna's other major championship - World Superbike.
Originally earmarked for a June date after its 2023 debut fell through, the first Kazakhstan Grand Prix at the Sokol track was first pushed back to September, filling a slot suddenly vacated by the Indian Grand Prix.
But racing at Sokol in September also proved a no-go due to what MotoGP has now put down to "operational and logistical issues arising from the earlier flooding across the region" - which had been deemed responsible for the delay earlier in the year.
MotoGP was known to have scrambled to find a third different race to fill the September 20-22 slot, with it first landing on a second Qatar race as its preferred replacement - only for that to fall through.
It will now hold a second race at Misano, the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, two weeks after the initial San Marino Grand Prix at the same venue. In the weekend between those, Misano is hosting cycling expo Italian Bike Festival.
Misano had already held two MotoGP races a season in both 2020 and 2021 as calendars were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
But the second Misano race's new slot will this time mean a very tight logistical turnaround as MotoGP will then race to Indonesia's Mandalika circuit just a week later.
More pertinently, though, the Misano circuit is also just 250km away from the Cremona circuit, which has been added to the WSBK calendar this year and will host its round the same weekend as the new Emilia Romagna GP.
