Qatar handed MotoGP date

Qatar will hold its first-ever motorcycle grand prix next year after being named on the provisional 2004 calendar.

The Gulf state has already been pencilled in to hold a World Superbike Championship round at the new facility near the capital Doha in 2005, but MotoGP chiefs have now confirmed they will visit Qatar a season earlier.

The planned Qatar Grand Prix, which will break with tradition and race on a Saturday, will be held on October 2.

Elsewhere, next season's provisional 17-race calendar, which was released by governing body the FIM, shows no other change from 2003, with the British Grand Prix at Donington Park retaining its familiar date of July 11.

Earlier this month series bosses revealed talks over a United States Grand Prix next year had stalled, although a race in Birmingham, Alabama is expected to be on the 2005 calendar.