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Amid fresh speculation that this year’s planned second running of the Indian Grand Prix in MotoGP might not happen, the event’s organisers have spoken out to calm rumours it will be axed.
This came less than 24 hours after a story by Motorsport.com suggested that the race might be cancelled and their scheduled September date will instead be taken over by the postponed Kazakhstan Grand Prix.
There have been whispers in the MotoGP paddock in recent weeks suggesting that the India race might not happen - not because of any of the late-resolved issues from last year’s first running of it but rather because the organisers have allegedly yet to pay the multi-million Euro race hosting fee charged by series promoter Dorna.
This is something that’s unlikely to be resolved in the coming weeks - given that India is currently in the midst of a crucial national election, whose results will not be announced until June 4.
With the Uttar Pradesh government - which is involved in the event - unable to make significant policy decisions or announcements during the period leading up to voting as per a set of guidelines called the Model Code of Conduct issued by the Election Commission of India to regulate political parties and candidates during elections, it means that business is currently on hold.
Race promoter Fairstreets Sports CEO Pushkar Nath Srivastava has meanwhile spoken out in an attempt to ease concerns, telling Indian news agency PTI that any outstanding issues will be sorted once the elections are conducted, with ruling party BJP expected to retain power.
“The race is very much on,” Srivastava insisted. “These are just rumours floating around. All of the contractual obligations will be met in June.”
The rumours linking the Buddh’s September date with the opportunity to reschedule what was set to be Kazakhstan’s debut on the calendar also come as something of a surprise given the state that the Sokol circuit is currently believed to remain in, only a month ahead of what was originally supposed to be the date for its inaugural grand prix.
The track itself is now believed to be completed at last and ready to receive homologation. Instead, the outstanding issues are believed by The Race’s sources to relate to other infrastructure issues like road access, timekeeping and high-speed internet.
Regardless of the timeline on addressing those, though, the idea itself of Kazakhstan replacing India can be a convenient one for MotoGP in terms of putting pressure on the various figures behind the latter race.
