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It seems that soon, even in 2025, the United States could have a second Grand Prix in addition to the one in Austin, Texas.
The destination, however, will not be the classic Laguna Seca circuit, in California, but a new track under construction in the centre of the USA, in Tennessee, about 130 miles east of the capital Nashville, as the Flatrock Motorsports Park is on its way to being completed before the inauguration scheduled for the end of the year.
Located between the Mississippi River to the west and the Blue Ridge Mountains to the east, Tennessee borders 8 states: Arkansas and Missouri to the west, Kentucky and Virginia to the north, North Carolina to the east and Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia to the south. It is not one of the richest states in America, on the contrary it is still quite rural and naturally as always in these cases there are those who are in favour and those who are against the construction of such an invasive structure in a green area.
Flatrock Motorsports Park has already declared its intention to host a MotoGP round and potentially attract WorldSBK to the United States, and for this reason has requested a circuit classification that allows for high-profile international races.
But why this location? It’s probably because the proximity of the structure to the Nashville headquarters of the Trackhouse Entertainment Group, which after NASCAR will make its debut in MotoGP in 2024 after replacing RNF Racing as the new satellite partner of Aprilia under the name of Trackhouse Racing, has its importance and confirms how the Dorna project of landing in the USA starts from afar.
The circuit was designed by the well-known Hermann Tilke and in its longest configuration measures 9.493 km: almost double the length of the current three longest MotoGP circuits - Sepang, Circuit of The Americas and Mugello - while even its more compact "Club Circuit" would surpass the previously mentioned trio with its 5.631 km.
For MotoGP, however, a configuration of 4.296 km is expected to obtain the FIM homologation license.
Will it be a flat and boring circuit? Not at all, the track takes advantage of the undulating terrain that surrounds the verdant Rockwood, with continuous differences in height that rival those of Portimao and the Sachsenring.
To rival the most famous circuits in the world, Flatrock has equipped itself with an iconic curve, what the Corkscrew is for Laguna Seca and the Arrabbiata double at Mugello: it is a curve with an angle of 30°, therefore similar to the banking of Daytona, which is at 31° and very close to that of Zandvoort which is at 32°, while the famous "Carousel" of the Nordschleife has an angle of 17°.
It will be a big undertaking for the tyre manufacturers because these types of curves usually put a lot of stress on the rubber.
It's been quite some time since the United States no longer hosted two Grands Prix: the last time was in 2015, when the races took place in Laguna and Austin, but two years earlier, in 2013, a trio of events was held with the addition of Indianapolis.
It is no mystery that Dorna's target is the States and the arrival of Dan Rossomondo was the first point of opening to a vast and rich market on which F1 has decidedly veered for a few years.
Motorcycle racing, however, is not motor racing, it has infinitely fewer resources, but above all strategies. And above all, there is no American rider on the horizon capable of illuminating the scene.
After all, the days of made in the USA domination begun in 1978 by Kenny Roberts and preceded in a certain sense by the arrival, the year before, of Pat Hennen alongside Barry Sheene are long gone.
Since the last appearance of the unforgettable Nicky Hayden in 2016, the last stars and stripes victory in the premier class belongs to Nicky and dates to 2006. And after the exit from the calendar of World Superbike, which raced for the last time in Laguna Seca in 2019, the Americans only had Austin as a benchmark, after the production-based series also made visits to the Utah Motorsports Campus (formerly Miller Motorsports Park) and Brainerd Motorsports Park.
The arrival of the new American company Trackhouse Racing, which took over the Aprilia satellite team after the end of the CryptoData accord, is currently fuelling Dorna's hopes of adding a second MotoGP round in the United States and the destination seems to be this new Flatrock Motorsports Park, currently under construction.
However, the past, even the recent one, has accustomed us to be cautious when talking about new circuits, because there have been many disappointments. Let's hope that this time is the right one.
