MotoGP has been trying to go to Hungary for almost as long as I have been working in MotoGP. Work started on the Balatonring circuit in November 2008, shortly after the Global Financial Crisis broke out. That crisis eventually brought down the Spanish construction companies which were behind the project, first causing the event to be postponed, then both the project and the Hungarian GP to be canceled. You can still see the vague outline of the intended circuit in the satellite images on Google Maps.
The cancellation of the Balatonring led to the inclusion of the Motorland Aragon circuit on the MotoGP calendar, a place it has held almost continually ever since.
The Hungarian authorities tried again in 2017. There was talk of bringing MotoGP to the Hungaroring, though that would have required major reconstruction to make the track safe for motorcycle racing. In 2019, Dorna signed a Memorandum of Understanding (a document with the legal power just above a pinky swear) with the Hungarian government to host a round of MotoGP at the Magyar Nemzetkozi Motodrome, a new circuit to be built near Debrecen, in the east of the country. The circuit was never built, and the Hungarian GP never happened.
Hiccups and obstacles
