MotoGP’s next Indian Grand Prix has been officially postponed at least one further year, one day before the publication of next season’s MotoGP calendar and amid fresh financial issues that mean it’s now looking increasingly unlikely that the series will ever return to the Buddh International Circuit after one single event in 2023.
Last year’s inaugural MotoGP race at the ex-Formula 1 venue outside Delhi faced challenges and controversies including the contracted visa agency failing to deliver travel documents (stranding many paddock personnel in Europe), track-record temperatures and a marshals’ strike. But it went ahead successfully in the end, with Marco Bezzecchi taking victory at a circuit that was widely loved by the grid.
The race was then set to take place again in 2024 but was eventually cancelled after financial issues regarding payment of the hosting fee to organiser Dorna, an issue compounded by a general election in India that the promoter claimed was the reason for first a delay and then eventually a cancellation.
It was then announced that it would move to early in 2025, becoming one of the revamped calendar’s opening rounds at a time of the year that promised considerably better weather conditions than the heat of late summer.
That too has now been scrapped, though, with Dorna confirming on the eve of the publication of the new calendar that the race will instead be postponed to 2026, with a token gesture being made by keeping the circuit on the schedule as 2025’s reserve outing.
However, with two cancellations in two years and a turbulent domestic political situation that has featured former promoter Fairstreet Sports being removed from its role and the initial tender to replace it being cancelled and reissued, it’s now looking very unlikely that MotoGP will ever return to Buddh despite the importance of the Indian motorcycling market to the series’ manufacturers.
There will be one previously at-risk race on the calendar when it is published on Thursday, however, with Dorna also confirming on Wednesday that the Portuguese Grand Prix will stay on for 2025 and 2026.
Requiring national-level government backing to go ahead, the race was the subject of an impassioned plea from local racer Miguel Oliveira a few weeks ago - a plea that seems to have been taken seriously.
"The MotoGP Grand Prix is one of the most visible sporting events in the world,” said Portuguese Secretary of State for Tourism Pedro Machado, “reaching more than 200 territories and with a fanbase of more than 500 million.
“We are therefore talking about an event that has a unique ability to promote and project Portugal as a tourist destination and as an organiser of major sporting events.
“By supporting the organisation of these initiatives, we are strengthening our country's reputation and attractiveness and this is very important from the point of view of tourism.”
