MotoGP rightsholders Dorna and the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas announced this morning that the new American racing facility has officially been added to the 2013 MotoGP calendar with a race date scheduled for April 19-21. This puts the Austin race between the Qatar season opener on March 31, and two weeks before the start of the “European” portion of the calendar at Jerez (which still is subject to a contract being ratified by the local government, which heavily supports the event financially). An additional opening in the calendar the weekend before the Austin race is slated for Argentina, but the possibility of that race is still in limbo due to the Argentinian government expropriating Spanish oil giant Repsol’s YPF SA subsidiary.
The Austin race will apparently continue as planned despite the ongoing legal dispute between COTA and former 500cc Grand Prix world champion Kevin Schwantz regarding his claim to promotional rights for the event. As expected in legal situations like this, the case will take some time to get before the courts, most likely well after the event has already taken place. And the possibility of the lawsuit being settled out of court is also a likely proposition.