TT and Motorsports development manager Paul Phillips is not unduly concerned about a clash between the British Grand Prix and the Classic TT next August.
It means that the middle weekend of the Manx Grand Prix, now the highlight of the new Classic brand of the TT, will clash directly with the MotoGP at Donington Park in Leicestershire.
Phillips actually believes that the situation will present an opportunity to the island because the Classic TT previously clashed with the bank holiday weekend British Superbike round at Cadwell Park.
‘The BSB clash prevented some riders from taking part in our event,’ he said in a recent Bikesport News interview. ‘Plus there is an opportunity to attract media and potential visitors from Europe or further afield to make the hop across to the island for the Bank Holiday Monday schedule, who we otherwise might not have been able to engage with.
‘If the British GP was in the middle weekend of the TT it would present a problem. but with the Classic we are looking at different audiences, in the same way as, in general terms, the audience for the TT and the classic TT is different and will become more so as time progresses.’
Phillips believes that the Classic TT will continue to grow in attendance and that the MotoGP dates will not have much impact on that.
The Cadwell Park BSB round has been rescheduled to one week earlier (August 21-23) which Paul Phillips believes could benefit the Classic TT.
‘I think the date clash between BSB and the Classic TT was more of an issue than MotoGP and Classic TT. There are only so many weekends in the year and the calendars are jam-packed.
‘Date clashes are inevitable, so your planning has to be around minimising the effects of these clashes as opposed to trying to avoid them completely.
‘Whether or not some of the people who will come to the Classic TT might also have attended the MotoGP if they could remains to be seen.’