Rows Of Chaos Ahead Of India's MotoGP, Proof That The Organizing Committee Is Not Yet Fully Ready To Hold A Big Event?

Illustration of MotoGP racing. (Photo: Twitter/@MotoGP)

JAKARTA - The 14th MotoGP 2023 series will be held at the Buddh Circuit, India on September 22-24. This is the first time India has held a MotoGP race.

Ahead of the race, preparations continued to be finalized. But serious chaos emerged. Many MotoGP team crews to Moto3 and journalists missed their flight to India due to visa issues.

Quoted from Speedweek, Wednesday, September 20, the Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) stated that there were about 30 members of its team who did not get visas to India ahead of departure on Monday, September 18.

As a result, many of them had to miss the plane. "More than 30 members of our team cannot board the plane," said a spokesman for HRC.

Tim Liqui Moly Moto3 ternyata juga mengalami masalah serupa. Sang pemilik tim, Peter Ottl mengatakan dari 14 anggota timnya, hanya tiga yang mendapatkan visa hingga hari keberangkatan.

While the other 11 people did not get visas until they finally had to buy a new flight ticket.

"In addition, a photo of a mechanical from Moto2 goes into my visa. Our team's coordinator, Susanna Sola, has actually received visas up to two times," said Ottl.

The same problem was also experienced by the KTM team. Vice President of Road Racing Pierer Mobility AG, Jens Hainbach, owner of the KTM, Gasgas, and Husqvarna teams said there were 50 members of their team who had not received visas one day before the flight.

"One of our team members in Moto3 has flown to India, but he has not received a visa," said Hainbach.

Chaos ahead of the 2023 Indian MotoGP does not stop the visa problem. Hotel fees, shuttle team vehicles, and motorbike rental fees for journalists are also said to be very expensive.

In addition, the local Indian MotoGP committee in 2023 was criticized for cargo vehicles carrying logistics in the form of valuables, including MotoGP motorcycles which cost hundreds of billions of rupiah.

The valuable cargo was transported from New Delhi Airport to the Buddh Circuit using only open trucks without containers. Luckily there were no significant problems until the cargo arrived at the circuit.