I've honestly lost count of how many times Dorna, MotoGP's current governing body, has both pulled and added the Indian GP to the current race calendar.
It's been off, on, off again, on again, then absolutely off again so many times, I've begun to believe the Indian GP was actually Schrödinger's cat. And the reasoning behind the race's cancelation, addition, and subsequent cancelations have ranged from the weather being too hot to the race's organizers not paying Dorna its dues, as well as random government mandates and concerns.
Earlier this week, however, it seemed that the Indian GP was just going to go the way of the Dodo for good, with reports out of Autosport stating while MotoGP's head honchos could come to an agreement with the race's organizers, those same folks couldn't come up with the cash to put the race on. But lo and behold, despite all odds and rumors and issues with putting the race on in 2024, the Indian GP will return.
Maybe. Possibly? Eh, it's a coin toss at this point, but I wouldn't put any money on it.
According to a statement from MotoGP, the Indian GP will return in 2026. Along with that news also comes news that the GP's original promotors, Fairstreet Sports, are out. This shouldn't come as a surprise as it's been rumored they were the main reason why the Indian GP didn't happen this year. Instead, they've been replaced by InvestUP, a new promoter.
And while many Indian fans would've likely loved to have witnessed a MotoGP race next year, the stars just couldn't align with the current schedule as well as what needed to occur to make the Buddh Circuit operationally sound enough to host a race.
That all sounds well and good, right? That sounds like the Indian GP is absolutely going to occur and that MotoGP is committed to bringing its world-class racing to Indian fans, right? Well...
"Both MotoGP and InvestUP are working hard to bring MotoGP back to Buddh International Circuit with a world-class event, and are committed to confirming India as a destination for global sporting events," states the press release. That's a lot of ambiguous language and future-forward statements. But it doesn't exactly emphasize the certainty of the race, rather it leaves the door open for MotoGP to again cancel if its needs aren't met.
That sort of mealy-mouthed statement goes further, adding, "Our collaboration with InvestUP to bring MotoGP back to India continues to lay fantastic foundations for the future and MotoGP looks forward to racing in front of our incredible Indian fans as soon as possible." Emphasis mine, but again, MotoGP gave itself a lot of outs.
Now, I don't take any glee in this. I think Indian fans are getting the bum end of the stick, as they've been promised time and time again that they're getting a MotoGP race only for Dorna and the organizers to go and screw it all up. What I'd love to see is just no announcement until you're certain the race is gonna happen. Otherwise, you have what we've witnessed over the last few years and get everyone's hopes up just to be unceremoniously dashed away.
It's BS and Dorna, as well as MotoGP's new owners, should do better by the fans.
