The manufacturers sought the Grand Prix in India. On the Buddh circuit, 40 km from New Delhi, Marc Márquez, Quartararo and company. It will create 55,000 jobs. The impact of such an event exceeded 100 million dollars. EFE visited the area.
“All our manufacturers have spoken to us especially about India, about their interest in visiting that country. (…) The manufacturers see that it has a lot of potential,” Carlos Ezpeleta, sports director of Dorna, the Spanish company in charge of organizing MotoGP for more than 30 years, explained to EFE.
“It is a market that consumes a lot of motorcycles and the manufacturers see that if they join MotoGP they will consume more motorcycles in general and from their brand,” he added.
That door opened earlier this year, when Indian racing promoter Fairstreet Sports contacted Dorna to show his interest in organizing a grand prix at the Buddh International Circuit, about 40 kilometers from New Delhi, and bring the best drivers on the planet to India.
The final decision was announced last weekend.when Dorna officially announced the debut calendar of the Bharat Grand Prix (India, in Hindi) from 2023, making India the 31st country to host a MotoGP race.
PRIMARY MOTORCYCLE MARKET
Despite being the largest market for two-wheelers in the world, with about 178 million motorcycles on its roads, These figures do not translate into a real follow-up of the Motorcycle World Championship in the country, which has almost no elite riders, the director of operations for Fairstreet Sports, Pushkar Nath, told EFE.
“Right now, people know about MotoGP but there’s not much of a following,” he said.
To stimulate that interest, they are designing a tour of “almost 25 cities” that will organize activities and small motorcycle tours to encourage people to attend the grand prix, scheduled to take place between September 22 and 24, which kicks off the Asian tour.
The inclusion of India follows the championship’s recent expansion strategy in Southeast Asia, following the addition of Thailand in 2018 and Indonesia this season, all of which are countries where the motorcycle is the main mode of transport.
However, Ezpeleta is no stranger to the lack of roots MotoGP has in India compared to other countries in the region, considering it “a huge opportunity to grow”, although he insisted that there is “tremendous interest (and) passion for pilots”.
ECONOMIC BOOST
In the organization of this great prize, India wishes above all to promote international tourismcreate jobs, or promote the ‘India’ brand, while bringing Marc Márquez, Fabio Quartararo and Francesco Bagnaia closer to motorcycle fans in this country of 1.4 billion inhabitants.
“India will boost its tourism industry, which is trying to recover from covid, many foreign tourists will come and many Indian tourists. People don’t just come for racing, they also visit different places. The Taj Mahal is only an hour and a half away from the circuit,” said Nath.
The average attendance at a MotoGP Grand Prix is 150,000 people according to data from the promoter.which hosts 22.5% of overseas fans who spend an average of $920 over the weekend, more than double the $445 spent by domestic fans.
In addition, Nath estimates that the race could create another 50,000 jobs indirectly in sectors such as hospitality.restoration or technology, in addition to the approximately 5,000 jobs required to build each grand prize. In total, the impact of an event like this slightly exceeds 100 million dollars, of which 21% goes to activities not directly related to the grand prize, according to the promoters.
LEARN FROM MISTAKES
Despite making its debut in the MotoGP world championship, the Buddh track hosted several national competitions and hosted the Formula 1 ‘Great Circus’ between 2011 and 2013, but it was dropped from the calendar after disputes between the regional government of Uttar Pradesh and the organizers. .
The authorities’ view of Formula 1 as entertainment, rather than a sport, significantly increased the taxes the organizers had to pay, which, added to customs problems, meant the end of the grand prix. But these mistakes will not be repeated, Nath assured, as the government recently recognized motorcycle racing “as a sporting event.”
“We are with the government and they confirmed that they will do everything to help the people of Fairstreet and they told us that we are doing well. They gave the guarantee that there should be no problem,” Ezpeleta said.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
