This year’s Indian Grand Prix will not take place and the race promoters will instead eye a return to the MotoGP calendar in 2025, according to reports on Tuesday.
The Budh International Circuit in Dankaur, India made its bow on the MotoGP calendar last year, but a rift has since grown between the race promoter Fairstreet Sports and Dorna.
A dispute regarding the fee to host its inaugural MotoGP event amid an oncoming Indian general election on June 4 has combined to make the race’s place on the 2024 calendar fragile at best.
However, a solution has been agreed for the Indian GP to forgo its place on this year’s calendar in favour of hosting the 2025 MotoGP season opener next March.
“It was mutually decided to shift the race to March next year. We are looking at the first or second week of March,” Fairstreet Sports CEO Pushkar Nath Srivastava told Indian news agency PTI.
“All the stakeholders including Dorna agreed that the September weather is not conducive for the race and it is tough on the riders and marshals as experienced last year.”
Last year’s Grand Prix was shortened by three laps after riders blasted the hot conditions, with Francesco Bagnaia saying “You feel your throat burning on the back straight. Your throat is burning, your legs are burning.”
Moving the event to open the 2025 season should in theory mitigate these harsh conditions with predictably cooler temperatures.
This development follows rumours earlier this month that the postponed Kazakhstan race would replace the Indian GP.
Kazakhstan was supposed to debut last year, but that was pushed back to 2024 with the Sokol circuit not ready to host.
Then in April, severe flooding in the region postponed the event from its slated June slot in this year’s calendar.
With the Indian GP and Dorna embroiled in a payment dispute, the idea of replacing the Dankaur-based race with the Kazakh event in September was floated.
“The race is very much on,” Srivastava told The Times of India on May 15 in response to the rumours. “All of the contractual obligations will be met in June.”
Tuesday’s development proves Srivastava’s confidence was partially misplaced, but the Indian GP’s potential place at the forefront of next year’s schedule hints that his later remarks regarding contractual obligations have been met (or will be).
That paves the way for Kazakhstan to fill the vacated September 20-22 slot as previously planned, but The Race understands infrastructure around the Sokol venue still needs finalising.
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