Silverstone ‘extremely disappointed’ to lose British MotoGP race

Silverstone boss Richard Phillips says he is ‘extremely disappointed’ that last Sunday’s thrilling British MotoGP round will be the last at the Northamptonshire circuit for the foreseeable future.

Silverstone was already reeling from losing the British MotoGP round to the proposed new Circuit of Wales, which won the long-term promotional rights from Dorna last month.

As the Circuit of Wales doesn’t even exist, part of its deal with Dorna meant the Welsh venue has to promote the British Grand Prix until it is ready.

That put Silverstone into a straight battle with Donington Park and it is the Leicestershire circuit that has cut a deal with the Circuit of Wales for 2015.

After failing to agree terms with Circuit of Wales management, Silverstone Managing Director Richard Phillips said: “We have invested heavily in the circuit and facilities here at Silverstone, specifically to host MotoGP, and have developed the British Grand Prix into a highly successful event. We wanted to keep MotoGP™ at Silverstone, but cannot afford to subsidise it. We are extremely disappointed not to be hosting the event in 2015. Any future deal, with Dorna or The Circuit of Wales, had to make economic sense for all parties, including us.”

“We know from experience what it takes to run a high quality British Grand Prix. We made what we considered to be the maximum sensible offer to retain the event at Silverstone, but it seems that The Circuit of Wales, who have no experience of running a Grand Prix, have concluded they can do better running it themselves, using Donington until their circuit is ready. Silverstone has taken the event to a whole new level over the last five years, so we hope this won’t turn out to be a backwards step for the British Grand Prix, teams and fans. The Circuit of Wales evidently believe they can make the finances work using Donington next year – we wish them the best of luck.”