MOTOGP: Spa considering return

Spa-Francorchamps is working towards a return to the MotoGP calendar.

Track president Nathalie Maillet told Belgian site DH.be that she has already held initial talks with MotoGP owner Dorna about the possibility of the championship returning to the famed venue after an almost 30-year absence.

"I want to get some big events like MotoGP," she said. "I recently spent a day in Madrid to discuss [it] with the organizers of the MotoGP. I am going to study the subject more deeply this year, notably on the level of profitability, the economic return for the region. It would not be until 2020, but I am aiming for the long term."

The Belgian Grand Prix was one of six events in the world championship's inaugural season in 1949, but disappeared from the calendar in 1990 after the speed of the 500cc machines finally outgrew the track's safety measures. That last encounter was won in the wet by Wayne Gardner on a Yamaha, while Italian superstar Giacomo Agostini remains the venue's most successful rider, with eight wins.