Dorna explains the reasons for the absence of the Indian GP in 2025

Dorna explains the reasons for the absence of the Indian GP in 2025
Dorna explains the reasons for the absence of the Indian GP in 2025

The MotoGP commercial rights holders have officially revealed a 22-round calendar for next season, a record figure reached for the first time this year and therefore maintained. This is the fruit in particular of the return of the GPs of Hungary and the Czech Republic, as well as that of Argentina which had to be removed from the program this season. On the other hand, India is absent from the final program, the decision having been taken to postpone the event organized on the Buddh circuit until 2026.

This announcement came after several months of contradictory communications. Arriving in MotoGP in 2023, the Indian GP should have been held again in September, but was ultimately removed from the program less than four months before the scheduled date. THE “operational reasons” mentioned officially referred more to the weather than to the shortcomings of the local promoter, however an agreement was announced shortly after with a new company responsible for ensuring the smooth running of the Grand Prix on site.

The talk over the summer was that the Indian Grand Prix was not canceled but postponed, guaranteed to take place in early 2025 and with a three-year contract. However, plans eventually changed and it was revealed in recent days that it would be necessary to wait until 2026 to return to Buddh and that it would only serve as a reserve event next season.

Carlos Ezpeleta, sporting director of Dorna Sports, explained this to the official MotoGP website: “India is an extremely important market for MotoGP and for the motorcycle industry. We have an agreement with the Uttar Pradesh region, where the Buddh International Circuit is located, and we continue to work with them , but unfortunately, given the deadlines we had to publish the calendar, it was not possible for us to meet all the deadlines regarding the selection of a promoter, an organizer and the realization of the improvements that they had to bring to the circuit.”

“So we and the Uttar Pradesh government agreed that it was better to have a year and a half to prepare for the test because it is a huge project. Many people don’t realize not the scale of such a project and all that entails, the fact of selecting a new promoter and particularly in India We continue to think that there is colossal potential, but we have agreed that the best solution. was to postpone it for a year.”

We must now hope that the new promoter and the modernization work mentioned will truly allow the Indian Grand Prix to be reborn. In the past, the country was already on the Formula 1 calendar for three years, before disappearing amid financial problems.

VIDEO – A virtual tour of the Buddh circuit with an on-board camera

-

-

PREV Formula 1 | Red Bull confirms Perez until the end of the year but not beyond
NEXT Zarco wants to continue his momentum and is ambitious for the Malaysian GP