Following the news that the Indian round of the 2013 World Superbike to be held at the Buddh International Circuit on March 10th was at risk due to tight scheduling and the country’s complicated customs practices.
Dorna was hold an emergency meeting this week in an effort to solve the issues and Italian website GPone.
com is currently reporting that the solution that Dorna has come up with will be to postone the Indian round to November 10th, making it the final round of season instead of Jerez de la Frontera, who was scheduled to close the Superbike season on October 20th – with an official statement to be released in the next few hours.
Now Dorna’ shipping agent will have the time to follow India’s customs procedures, and the teams find a way to raise the budget for the custom bonds, but both promoters will have reorganize the entire event, including paying out extra for shipping costs that will be involved in transporting the entire paddock from Spain to India and then back to Europe again to the teams home bases because the 2013 season will be officially over.
With six weeks to go before the start of the season, World Superbikes as yet to define their final racing calendar and confirm the exact number of rider entries.
UPDATE:The FIM has released another revised version of 2013 World Superbike calendar – and it is still provisional – with the following statement regarding the Indian round which has now been officially moved to November 17th and will be the final event of the season.
The World Superbike race in India has been moved from the 10 March to the 17 November due to an insufficient period of time to properly finalise the training of the marshals and medical staff around the racetrack.
FIM representatives will be at the Indian track on 19, 20 and 21 this January, in order to carry out the final racetrack homologation and provide the relevant seminars about the different aspects involved in the sporting organisation of the event.
The Portimao round scheduled for June 9th is still subject to contract as is the June 30th Imola round, while the country and venue for June 23rd date is still to be announced.