Dorna, the company that organizes the World Championship, is already working intensely on the hypothesis that the Buddh International Circuit race will be canceled because the local promoters have not respected the financial commitments established by the contract. The executives of the Spanish company have set May 20 as the deadline by which India will have to settle with payments, a formality that is unlikely to materialize considering the previous delays.
Should the event on the outskirts of Delhi be cancelled, Kazakhstan would inherit its scheduled date (September 22).
Not without great difficulty, India hosted its first MotoGP Grand Prix last year with a titanic logistical effort. In the end, however, the event took place and proved to be a great success.
The inaugural race at the Sokol circuit was initially scheduled for June 16, but the humanitarian emergency in the region due to floods forced the parties involved to postpone the race to a later date. With India’s possible exit, the Almaty Grand Prix could therefore take place on the weekend of 20-22 September. Kazakhstan would thus become the first of the transoceanic stops that will mark the last third of the season.
After the cancellation of the Argentine Grand Prix earlier in the season due to the country’s political situation, the FIM announced on May 3 that the Kazakhstan Grand Prix would be postponed, but some riders and teams objected.
One of the first dates taken into consideration was mid-July, the weekend of the 14th, immediately after Germany, or the 21st. But some drivers and teams opposed it, believing that the season is becoming increasingly full of commitments and races , and that it is necessary to respect the summer holiday period between Sachsenring (7 July) and Silverstone (4 August).
The circuit is ready for MotoGP
In recent months, the various departments responsible for Dorna have made several visits to Sokol and also to Almaty, the most populous city in the Asian country, with the aim of ensuring that all the necessary infrastructure was in place. The checks were always positive, despite the long journeys that most of the participants will have to face every day, given the distance between the hotel areas and the circuit, around 75 kilometres.
“We were in Sokol ten days ago and the circuit is ready to host a MotoGP Grand Prix,” one of the special correspondents in Kazakhstan told Motorsport.com.
Although the decision has been made, contractual deadlines make it advisable to wait for India’s payment, expected around May 20, before the FIM can make an official announcement.
With the cancellation of Argentina and India and the repositioning of Kazakhstan on the calendar, the 2024 MotoGP season will have 20 Grands Prix, equaling the number of events held in 2022 and 2023, the seasons with the highest number of races in the history of the competition.
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