Formula 1 has officially announced its long-awaited return to Turkey – the start of the Grand Prix at “Istanbul Park“ will return to the calendar in 2027 and is expected to remain there for at least five seasons, reports sportal.bg. This development immediately raised the question of whether MotoGP will not also take the same path, since both championships are managed by the same company – Liberty Media. According to journalist Simon Patterson, active work is already being done in this direction. A key role in the idea is played by Turkish stars Toprak Razgatlioglu and his manager Kenan Sofuoglu, who insist that Turkey return to the MotoGP calendar.
The plans are for the country to host a round as early as 2028, but an earlier return is not ruled out – as early as the 2027 season.
Between 2005 and 2007, Turkey was already part of the motorcycle racing championship on the track, but then interest in the race failed to sustain and “Istanbul Park“ dropped from the calendar.
Now the situation seems different. Razgatlioglu's presence in MotoGP, as well as Deniz Oncu's participation in Moto2, are creating strong local interest. Razgatlioglu is a huge sporting figure in Turkey after his three World Superbike (WSBK) world titles, which is expected to lead to significantly higher attendance if the race returns to Istanbul.