The MotoGP World Championship has already landed in Termas de Río Honda, for the dispute of the Argentine GP, three years after the last time (in 2019) and with a day of delay in the activity on the track, but the Argentine circuit and its surroundings “He has the illusion of the first time with MotoGP, when it debuted on the World Cup calendar in 2014, with victory for Marc Márquez”.
Who makes such a statement is Federico Amateis, press officer of the Argentine layout which presents a new main building, which was forced by the fire suffered on February 6 last year. “It has been better than it was,” says Fede proudly about something that this newspaper can attest to, and gives. They are facilities at the height of a spectacular layout that will be packed this weekend. “The seat tickets are almost all already sold, those for grandstands 1, 2, Rossi and Márquez. That means a little more than 40,000 spectators, to which must be added all those who go to the field area (the pelouse), located in the ‘Long Lap Penalty’ area (the long lap sanction),” explains Amateis aware that “MotoGP hasn’t come to Argentina for three years and the excitement of the first time is noticeable in the atmosphere”.
The first thing one finds when arriving at Termas de Río Hondo, a most humble town with 32,000 inhabitants, is a welcome sign announcing this weekend’s Argentine GP with an extreme close-up of Marc Márquez in action. When asking Federico if his absence due to double vision problems can be noticed in public attendance during the weekend, he is very clear that it will not be like that: “The loss of Márquez has not affected because almost everything was already sold before Indonesia, so his dismissal, which is a pity, does not have a negative impact in this sense”. And he shows his astonishment with the pull that the already retired Valetino Rossi continues to have: “Rossi’s is incredible. The idol is gone, but the grandstand named after him, in his honor, was the first to sell out.”
The passion in Argentina for motor sport is incredible. Amateis sums up that sentiment in an easy-to-understand way: “Everything started with Fangio and beyond that, the open road touring car races we have here are in the record book, because they have more than 80 years of history. As happened with the Dakar, with the World Rally Championship that takes place in Córdoba or with MotoGP, everything is about a social act that goes beyond the event, that makes you move and enjoy with friends and family for a whole weekend. In addition, the international magnitude is also attractive, because these events connect Argentines with the world and make us the center of their attention.”
Despite the bad start due to the cancellation of Friday, due to lack of material, Termas de Río Hondo will once again be a party and great news for the hoteliers in the area, who claim to have had a “very bad time” with the pandemic and are now back to smile with the return of the MotoGP World Championship. Federico, to finish off, assures that “through social networks it is noted that people are going to continue coming to enjoy this show despite the cancellation of Friday”.
