MotoGP to make India debut next year

MotoGP — world’s premier two-wheeled racing series — will be coming to India next year with the ‘Grand Prix of Bharat’ scheduled at the Buddh International Circuit (BIC) in Greater Noida on September 24.

Though the Indian race promoters – Fairstreet Sports – were confident that the race will be held next year, Dorna Sports – the international organiser and commercial rights holder of MotoGP – remained non-committal when the two signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for seven years here on September 21.

However, all speculations were put to rest as MotoGP announced the provisional 2023 calendar on Friday with the Indian Grand Prix weekend slotted for September 22-24.

“We’re very proud to announce that BIC will be on the 2023 calendar. We have a lot of fans in India and we’re excited to be able to bring the sport to them. India is also a key market for the motorcycle industry and therefore, by extension, for MotoGP as the pinnacle of the two-wheeled world,” Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta said.

The India race will be the 14th of the 21-race season that starts with the Portuguese GP on March 26 and ends with the Valencia GP on November 26. The 5.14km BIC — once home to the now defunct Formula 1 Indian GP — will become the 75th venue and India the 31st country to host MotoGP. The MotoGP race in India will also be one of the seven Asian races next year while the French GP at Le Mans on May 14 will host a historic 1,000th Grand Prix of the sport.

Along with India, Kazakhstan will also make its MotoGP debut next year with the race scheduled on July 9 near Almaty. Both races will be subject to homologation at least 90 days before the race is held.

With more than 200 million motorcycles on its roads, India remains one of the biggest motorcycle markets in the world. The two-wheeled transportation accounts for nearly 75% of the total number of vehicles used daily in India — a key focus for manufacturers in the MotoGP paddock like Honda, KTM, and Yamaha, among others.

Formula 1—the world’s premier four-wheel racing—too came to India with a lot of pomp and show 11 years back but lasted only three years (2011-2013) despite a five-year contract due to financial, tax, and bureaucratic hurdles. Significantly, F1 back then was not recognised as a sport in India which created further logistical hurdles. The Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI)—the governing body of the sport in the country—got accredited as a National Sports Federation in 2015.

The organisers, however, are confident that there will be no issues this time around. Ezpeleta recently met Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to apprise him of the event. “It’s a matter of great pride for Uttar Pradesh to host such a global event. Our government will provide full support to MotoGP Bharat," the Chief Minister said.

MotoGP races are preceded by Moto3 and Moto2 — junior and feeder categories — which will also be held in India. In addition, MotoGP is also planning to introduce MotoE during the Grand Prix weekend which could become the first non-European MotoE race. MotoE — an electric motorcycle racing series — started in 2019 and has only been raced in Europe as support races to the main MotoGP event.

Mahindra Racing is the only Indian team to have taken part during MotoGP weekends. They featured in Moto3 from 2011 to 2014 before becoming an independent constructor till 2017.

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