Rossi, Barros regret Rio cancellation.

Six times world champion Valentino Rossi and Brazilian Alex Barros have both expressed their regret at hearing today's news that the 2005 Rio Grand Prix has been removed from the 2005 MotoGP calendar due to the 'lack of a signed contract'.

"Many people are talking about the news that the grand prix in Rio has been cancelled this year, and I'm sorry not to be able to go back there because I didn't finish the race there last year, and it would have been good to have ended it on a high note," said Rossi, who crashed out of the 2004 Rio GP (pictured), during a break in testing at Phillip Island.

Camel Honda rider Barros, the only Brazilian racing in the premier-class, was also naturally disappointed - especially as 2005 would probably have been the last time an event could have been held at the Rio GP circuit anyway.

"Obviously I'm disappointed," he said of the Rio cancellation. "It is the second time this has happened (the first was in 1998) but this is even more disappointing because it was probably going to be the last grand prix at (the Jacarepagua) track.

"The city prefecture is actually planning to demolish part of the track and reduce the overall length to 3,100 metres. That means it would only have been used for national races," explained Alex, who finished fifth in the 2004 event.

The April 17 Rio Grand Prix date has now been replaced by the Portuguese Grand Prix, while a Turkish Grand Prix has been added to keep the number of races at 17.