A Grand Prix in India on the Buddh track was one of the two major new features of the 2023 calendar presented at the time by Dorna boss Carmelo Ezpeleta. The other was an event in Kazakhstan, but it was towards the Indian side that the interest of the manufacturers involved in the major Grand Prix category was leaning, due to the size of the motorized two-wheel market in this country as large as a continent. Yes, but before MotoGP committed to going there on September 24, WSBK and Formula 1 had attempted the adventure, without success. And it is not the headache that the question of who will have to pay for the work to bring the Buddh route up to standard has become that will make us optimistic about the future of events.
An issue which, incidentally, amounts to 4,5 million euros, this sum setting the work recommended by the delegation of the END during its inspection on a site which has been waiting for its approval. This involves widening several loopholes and improving the asphalt in certain areas of the track. The problem, as explained by the Times of India via crash.net, is that no one wants to take on this work, let alone pay this amount of money. Six months before the 14th Grand Prix of a 21-round season is due to be held, this blocking situation is inevitably starting to worry.
According to the local media outlet, the circuit upgrades ahead of the inaugural round of MotoGP in India, scheduled for September 22 to 24, may be delayed due to “ multitude of legal and technical complications ". And when you read the rest, you realize the imbroglio: the promoter of the MotoGP event, Fairstreet Sports, has submitted a letter to the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) requesting clarification on how to proceed with the necessary work.
The approval of the Buddh circuit for the MotoGP Indian Grand Prix amounts to cutting the Gordian knot
YEIDA a “scellé” le site après que Jaypee Infratech Limited, qui a initialement construit le circuit international de Buddh « failed to pay financial contributions ". But it is now difficult to know which party will undertake the construction work to host the MotoGP…
Meanwhile, time passes and the race date draws closer, and without FIM Grade A homologation, it will be impossible for the Indian track to accommodate Indian Grand Prix. It will be recalled that the Buddh track has not hosted an international event since 2013, when Formula 1 competed there in its last race before slamming the door on India due to the bureaucratic hell involved. to pass all the material through its customs.
If the problems cannot be resolved in time, it is not only MotoGP that would lose. Predictions from the government of Uttar Pradesh, the province in which the Buddh circuit is located, on what the celebration of Indian Grand Prix could bring to the region have in fact been evaluated at a little more than 53 millions of euros.
