Bengaluru, August 28: The MotoGP will have a new pit stop in Thailand from next year.
According to insiders, Sakon Wannapong, the Governor of Sport Authority of Thailand, and Carmelo Ezpeleta, CEO of Dorna Sports, the commercial rights holder of MotoGP are set to sign a contract to this effect on Thursday (August 31) at a ceremony in Bangkok.
Initially, it will be a three-year deal with the Grand Prix to be held at Buriram circuit from 2018 to 2020.
The official MotoGP site also confirmed the deal through a tweet.
NEWS: Thailand poised to join the #MotoGP calendar in 2018
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) August 28, 2017
📰https://t.co/BT4oPym0Qg pic.twitter.com/pS0wJOsHwY
The track, which has previously hosted the World Superbike Championship, will be the first all-new addition to the FIM World Championship series since Argentina's Termas de Rio Hondo joined the calendar in 2014.
The name of Buriram circuit has been doing the rounds for quite sometime, and Thailand came close to being added to the 2017 calendar before it was put off due to severe sponsorship woes.
The Buriram round is expected to slot in towards the end of an expanded 19-race calendar.
The additions of Thailand and Finland, which signed a deal this month to begin hosting a Grand Prix from 2019 after construction of the KymiRing is completed, means the MotoGP calendar could swell to 20 races if none of the existing venues are dropped.
Currently the MotoGP has 18 races in the calendar with the season-opener at Losail International Circuit in Qatar being the only one to be held under lights.
The famed Valencia circuit in Spain traditionally brings down curtains to the FIM season.