Bobby Epstein, the owner of the Circuit of The Americas, believes MotoGP could also race during a Formula 1 weekend as the US Grand Prix gets close to half a million spectators. In fact, the idea has already been put to the FIA.

This year, 440,000 people are expected to visit the race weekend at COTA. Last year the figure was 400,000. The venue has the potential to host even more people and could be the first from the current calendar to reach the half-million spectator mark during a race weekend. Epstein says some exciting concepts are being considered when planning for the future, including the idea of linking F1 with MotoGP. This idea has already been proposed to both MotoGP rights holder Dorna and the FIA.

Creative ideas 

"Two or three supporting series would be good," Epstein said in conversation with Racer. "Two or three support series would be good,” Epstein said. “It would be great – if it can’t be an F2 or F3 – I think we can get creative. I’d love to see the motorcycles race during F1 weekend. I think it would be a lot of fun, and I think the fans would like it, so we’re exploring that."

In addition to Formula 1, the W Series was actually supposed to take to the track this weekend. However, due to financial problems, the season was stopped early. The COTA boss says he is disappointed that the W Series will not make its appearance in Austin. "It was such short notice you couldn’t really replace it. But I do think overall the fans still get their money’s worth."