Indian GP to miss a year, aiming for 2015 return

Friday, 2 August 2013 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

REUTERS: The Indian Formula One Grand Prix will be dropped from next year’s calendar with organisers targeting a return in 2015, they said. “If Formula One Management wants us to hold our race in March 2015 we don’t have any problem with that,” said Sameer Gaur, chief executive of local promoter Jaypee Sports International (JPSI) in a statement.

The media quoted JPSI vice-president Askari Zaidi as confirming the grand prix would skip a year because holding it in March 2014 would not be commercially viable so soon after this year’s in October. “It has been postponed till March 2015. And there is an understanding that the fifth edition will be held in March 2016,” he said. The first race at the Buddh International circuit near New Delhi was held in 2011 with JPSI agreeing a five-year deal with Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone. Ecclestone is due to present the 2014 calendar to the governing International Automobile Federation for approval in September, with teams reluctant to go to more than 20 races. This year’s calendar has 19 races with Austria due to return next year and new grands prix in Russia and New Jersey also scheduled. Vicky Chandhok, the head of the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India, said Gaur and Formula One management were working to “iron out the calendar and other related issues for the future”. “With the 2014 F1 Indian being abandoned in favour of an early 2015 date let’s remember that it’s privately funded by JPSI,” he added on Twitter.