Even if yet has to be officialized, it looks like India is set to become the next country to host MotoGP next season and they could also become the season opener with the championship to start in March.

Sameer Gaur, managing director and chief executive officer of Jaypee Sports who runs the International Buddh International Circuit, besides hosting F1 he also wants to add a round of the World Superbike championship in the very near future.

“We want to accommodate all of these races, but India has only five months of good weather (October-March) when they can be held,” said Gaur.

Dorna’s CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta has already broadly hinted that India is going to be the next circuit on the MotoGP calendar and that the season should start earlier. MotoGP has opened later over these last few years mainly to avoid the dew and dampness that the Losail circuit suffers during the night race.

The photo above is Jorge Lorenzo who lapped the 5140 meter Buddh circuit last January as part of a Yamaha promotional tour.

Source | bikeracing.it

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While MotoGP is popular across Europe, many consider it to be too Eurocentric as twelve of the eighteen races on the calendar are hosted on the old continent, but this will be changing in the near future as the economic crunch and Eurozone debt crisis worsens.

Dorna wants MotoGP to have a greater appeal across the world and other nations are vying to host a race. Argentina is already scheduled in 2013, while India also wants to be on the calendar with negotiations currently ongoing and Carmelo Ezpeleta having visited the Buddh International Circuit last month. Jorge Lorenzo during his PR tour last week also said that India is ‘ready’.

According to MCN.com South Korea also wants to host a race and Dorna representatives visited the Korea International Circuit last week, with countries like Chile and Brazil also showing interest.

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You know that Jorge Lorenzo is on a tour in the Far East for Yamaha and one of his PR duties was to take the updated YZF-R15 version 2.0 with its 150cc liquid-cooled 4-stroke engine which also includes an ECU unit, around India’s Noida track.

India is hoping to host a MotoGP event in the near future and with Dorna’s CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta publically going on record saying that there will be fewer races in Spain, Indian organizers are already rubbing their hands in delight.

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Jorge Lorenzo left Barcelona yesterday and today visited the Auto Expo to meet both racing fans and the national Indian media and then took a lap around the Buddh International Circuit with a Yamaha R15.

The former World Champion was duly impressed by the new facility which is interested in hosting a MotoGP event in the future and Lorenzo believes that the circuit is ready for MotoGP racing

“It’s been great to visit the Buddh circuit today,” said Lorenzo in Yamaha’s press release “the track is very modern and wide. I think it is quite prepared and ready to be on the calendar. I believe it will be exciting to ride with many overtaking opportunities, while via Twitter said, “Hello friends! This afternoon at the Buddh circuit (India). Great reception from the press of the country. The circuit is very modern type Shanghai or Turkey, and wide, with many options for overtaking.”

Lorenzo also added, “The Indian people I have met have been very kind and gentle, I would like to see more of India in the future with more time; we didn’t get to see so much in just two days here. Now I’m very excited to go to Jakarta to see all my Indonesian fans there.”

Lorenzo will be flying to Indonesia and will be joined by team-mate Ben Spies for two days of PR activities on the 14th and 15th January for Yamaha Motor Kenkana Indonesia, who is a main sponsor of the Yamaha’s Factory Racing MotoGP Team (Semakin di Depan).

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At the beginning of 2010 Yamaha had Valentino Rossi do a little promotion in India and he gave his stamp of approval on racing in India and this year it will be Jorge Lorenzo who will be doing the PR work and ahead of his visit to the enormous country he too also thinks that it will soon be on the MotoGP calendar.

The former 2010 World Champion will be in India on Wednesday to promote Yamaha products and will be the first MotoGP rider ever to do some laps at the new Buddh International Circuit track, albeit it will be on a Yamaha R-15 and not his new 1000cc M1.

“I am extremely excited at the prospect of coming to India,” said Lorenzo talking to the Times of India. “This will be my first visit to the country and I have been told that the biking culture has evolved tremendously there over the years. With India getting equipped with one of the world’s best race tracks and having already hosted F1, we can expect India to be the next destination for Moto GP.”

Lorenzo has already started MX training for the upcoming season after spending a long time recovering from his warm-up crash last October at Phillip Island where he lost the tip of his fingertip.

Source | crash.net

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We’ve already reported that Dorna, who holds the MotoGP rights, is interested into tapping in to new expanding markets and venues, with promotors who are vying to bring motorcycle racing into their countries, like Abu Dhabi, Singapore and above all India, who’ll have an Indian rider for the first time in international racing and Mahindra Two Wheelers, also getting into racing to showcase their technology.

The 5.14 km is being built at Greater Noida and we’d thought it interesting to show you a video of the new race circuit that will be hosting F1 next year and with all probability MotoGP as soon as 2012.

Valentino Rossi has already given his stamp of approval on racing in India (and believe me, his opinion counts plenty with Carmelo Ezpeleta), when he went on a promotional tour for Yamaha in the vast country last year.

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