Yamaha boss: MotoGP should leave Europe

LIN JARVIS, Managing Director of Yamaha Motor Racing, feels that a European-dominated MotoGP calendar fails to reflect industry reality and should be changed to allow for a developing marketplace in other regions. 

Of the 18 rounds on the 2013 MotoGP schedule, eleven are based in Europe, with Spain alone hosting four. Jarvis feels that there should be more races taking place in South America and South-East Asia in order to reflect the commercial future of the modern motorcycle industry.

The United States holds the lion's share of races taking place outside Europe, with races at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Indianapolis and Laguna Seca scheduled for the 2013 season. 

Crash.net reports Jarvis as saying: 'I would like to see this sport move to some other markets around the world, which are growing markets, in particular in South East Asia: MotoGP is very important there and we only have one race there at the moment in Sepang. There is definitely capacity to have more races there,

'I would like to see the Championship grow to be a truly global Championship. 

'I would like to see it in South America, I would like to see it back in Africa, I would like to see two races in South East Asia and I believe that if we moved to the areas where the economy is struggling less than in Europe, for instance, we would see better financial circumstances. 

'I believe there is a very hungry audience there for MotoGP. We believe in this sport but we need to work on it together with the teams, together with Dorna, together with the FIM to look for growth and to try to promote it.'

In the recent past, races in South Africa and Brazil have been dropped from the schedule - but recent PR events in Indonesia and Brazil involving Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo could point to renewed interest in looking further afield to fill the calendar. 

Would MotoGP benefit from distancing itself from its traditional heartland? Is Dorna overly Euro-centric in its approach?