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After the roar of 1,000cc engines of the fastest bikes in the world reverberated at the Buddh International Circuit (BIC) for three days, the track has embraced silence once again.
The 4.96km track is full of dark rubber marks. There is gravel and tyre debris, leftovers of multiple slides and crashes from the three races that took place on Sunday. Several containers, marked by teams, are being loaded on to trucks to be transported to the next venue – Japan.
But significantly, BIC will no longer just be a landmark on the Yamuna Expressway, a remnant of the erstwhile of former Formula 1 Indian Grand Prix. Instead, it will now be known as the home of MotoGP in India.
“I really liked this place the day I landed. I like to celebrate with the fans, I would like to give my heart to the fans. In this part of the world, they are very loud, and I really like to hear the crowd. They enjoyed it, of course and next year they will have even more fun. So, for me it was fantastic. It’s a track that I liked the first time I rode on it. Overall, it has been good for me,” said VR46 Racing Team’s Marco Bezzecchi, winner of the first ever Indian Grand Prix.
It is not as if the maiden Indian Grand Prix didn’t have its problems. At the start of the last week, one even wondered if the race would even take place after the half the paddock, including riders and team personnel, did not get their visas on time, only to return to their respective homes from the airport.
When the visa issue was sorted, then came the doubts of riders using a former F1 circuit for MotoGP whether it would be safe enough to ride. European media even reported that there were snakes on the circuit, building on the anxiety of MotoGP personnel.
But those worries were laid to rest once the riders and teams started arriving at the circuit, only to be impressed by the grandeur of the facility. No one found a snake though Jack Miller found a monkey, who happened to reside in the KTM garage.
Friday too had its fair share of controversies with the India map issue and the marshals going on strike for not receiving water and food, but Saturday and Sunday – the two most important days of the weekend – went about without any problems with the only challenge for the riders being the heat – hovering around 33 degrees Celsius – and the track.
The race was brilliant to say the least, completely throwing up the title fight with Bezzecchi’s win, Jorge Martin’s second finish and championship leader Francesco Bagnaia crashing out. BIC also proved lucky for former champions Marc Marquez (Honda) and Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha), who found form after going through the year on their slower bikes.
All in all, riders, mechanics and other team personnel left India for Japan satisfied with their India experience, something that Dorna Sports, the commercial rights holder of MotoGP, would be happy to know.
“India doesn’t need MotoGP, MotoGP needs India. It’s a country where all the manufacturers want to sell bikes. India could quite easily carry on being a cricketing nation and nothing else. It sort of controls world cricket through the Indian Premier League,” former F1 driver Karun Chandhok told motorsportmagazine.com.
Chandhok is quite right. Carlos Ezpeleta, chief sporting officer of Dorna, has said in multiple interactions with Indian media over the past year how important a market India is for them.
“For us, breaking into India is very important. It is the biggest two-wheeler market in the world. All the manufacturers in MotoGP want to come to India,” Ezpeleta had said in an earlier interaction.
Dorna has signed a seven-year contract with Fairstreet Sports, the promoters of the Indian race. Formula 1 held only three races in India from 2011-2013 despite a five-year contract. After holding just one race this year in February, Hyderabad was not on the provisional 2024 Formula E calendar. But MotoGP looks good to stay.
“After running around for months, I have pain in my back, legs, hands but my heart is happy today. We have finally brought MotoGP to India,” said Pushkar Nath Srivastava, chief operating officer of Fairstreet.
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