Aragon's return, triple-headers and Marc Marquez's future - Neil Hodgson previews MotoGP 2024 season

TNT Sports' Neil Hodgson says the 2024 season of MotoGP will be "exciting" as he looked ahead to triple headers, the return of the Aragon GP and Marc Marquez's chances.

The MotoGP 2024 season calendar was released on Wednesday, with the headlines being the return of Qatar to the first race of the season, the Aragon GP going back on the calendar, and Kazakhstan set to become the latest country to welcome the sport.

It will also be the biggest-ever season in MotoGP history with 22 races on the calendar.

Hodgson, the 2003 Superbike world champion, said: "It's got a good beginning - Qatar's always a good opener, racing under the lights is a good spectacle.

"We always enjoy Argentina and America back-to-back, and they've got that.

"They've definitely got the balance of the calendar better - that helps all the riders and the teams.

"Obviously having 22 rounds is a lot of work, but it's exciting because of the fact we're going to have more races than we've ever had before. We love it.

"At the end of the season we've got two triple-headers, so that looks quite exciting, and I'm already pumped for the British GP in August.

"It sounds really positive - I've spoken to a few people and everyone seems really up for it."

The return of Aragon to the schedule means Spain will have four races in 2024.

"We've raced there before, they just took it off this year - they've raced there quite a bit," Hodgson said of Aragon.

"It's a great track, superb layout. And it's situated not far from Barcelona so it's quite an easy one to get to.

"it's one of the riders' favourites, a real fast flowing track, lots of undulations."

On whether he feels Spain will be the 'hub' of the season, Hodgson said: "It really is. You'd be mistaken to think 'oh, that's going to be advantageous for the Spanish riders'.

"But the majority of riders now in MotoGP have tested and ridden on all those tracks so many times that there's not really a home advantage any more like there used to be.

"It's very popular that part of the world, we always get massive crowds which always creates a really good atmosphere at the track."

Hodgson also looked ahead to which riders the 2024 calendar may favour, naming one man in particular.

He said: "The big question is - and we're going to find out potentially in the next two or three weeks - is what Marc Marquez is doing.

"If Marquez is switching to Ducati [as has been rumoured], the way the season looks, he goes really well at places like Argentina, America which are obviously early on in the season again.

"I still think Marquez is the fastest man in the championship, so if he ends up on a Ducati - which it's starting to really look like - then I think it could be an explosive start for him."

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