The 2014 MotoGP season will return to an 18-race calendar after the International Motorcycling Federation (FIM) dropped a planned new race in Brazil.

The Brazilian Grand Prix was intended to be one of two new South American events on the 2014 calendar alongside the Argentinian Grand Prix in the city of Termas de Río Hondo. MotoGP's last visit to Brazil was in 2004 for a grand prix in Rio de Janeiro, but the planned race in the capital city of Brasilia on September 28 has now been cancelled.

Brazil’s round - scheduled to be hosted at a revamped Autódromo Internacional Nelson Piquet - was subject to the circuit being approved. The FIM did not disclose the reasons for its removal from the calendar, but reports have stated that work on improving the grandstands and other facilities was not on schedule.

Brasilia’s removal from the calendar means that Spain’s Aragon Grand Prix moves back a week to fill the slot previously reserved for the Brazilian GP. The 2014 MotoGP season commences with the Qatar GP in Doha on March 23 and runs through to the Valencia GP in Spain on November 9. Argentina will host its new race on April 27.