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The Ulster Grand Prix has been cancelled for a fifth consecutive year.

The event, last held in 2019, had been tentatively pencilled in to run over two days from August 2-3.

However, in a statement on Monday night, the Dundrod and District Motor Club confirmed the historic race meeting would not take place this year.

“It is with regret that the Dundrod and District Motorcycle Club must announce the Ulster Grand Prix will not take place during 2024,” the statement read.

“Despite recent positive negotiations with stakeholders of the event, the club has been left with no choice but to take this course of action given motorcycle sport's ongoing insurance issues and a lack of sufficient time to find a solution to these challenges.

“The DDMC remains committed to reviving the Ulster Grand Prix and will continue to work towards achieving that goal.”

The Ulster Grand Prix was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 as the Covid-19 pandemic wiped out almost every road race.

Following the 2019 meeting, it transpired that the UGP was in debt to the tune of almost £300,000.

The Dundrod Club entered into a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) with its creditors in 2021, enabling a portion of the debts owed to be paid back over a fixed period of time.

A number of riders, including Peter Hickman – who won a record seven races in 2019 and re-established Dundrod as the fastest road race in the world with a 136mph lap – were left out of pocket.

As part of a venture to save the Ulster Grand Prix and bolster the future of the North West 200, the Revival Racing Motorcycle Club, which has Portadown road racing great Phillip McCallen among its directors, aimed to secure funding from the Northern Ireland Executive to take over the Ulster GP and bring Irish road racing’s two biggest races under one umbrella.

However, a proposed £800,000 financial package fell at the final hurdle in 2022 after Tourism NI did not support the funding.

The Revival Club regrouped after the setback and explored further opportunities to run the UGP last year, but eventually withdrew its bid to stage the historic road race.

In a statement in October 2022, the club said the decision had been taken ‘due to the shortness of available time to develop the plan with all vested parties such as the MCUI (UC), sponsors, local and central government’.

With the Revival Club pulling out, the Dundrod Club remained keen to run the historic race again and the event was included in the MCUI Ulster Centre’s scale of charges for insurance cover in 2023.

An eleventh-hour deal last March saved Northern Ireland motorcycling after soaring insurance costs threatened to wipe out the calendar, but plans to run the Dundrod meeting were later shelved.

This year, the Cookstown 100, North West 200 and Armoy events are the only Irish road races currently set to go ahead.

Ulster Grand Prix cancelled for fifth consecutive year, Dundrod Club announces