i1 Supercar Series rescheduled to January 2013

The IPL may have shown the world the immense potential a city based sports franchise holds in a country like India, but in the case of Indian motorsports, the scenario has quite frankly been left unexplored, that was until reports of i1 Super Series cropped up in mid 2011. 

Quickly gaining attention post the announcement of Sachin Tendulkars involvement in the league, the better part of 2011 was spent announcing the 9 teams that would participate in the racing championship, four of which presently have owners. 

At a recently held pre-season test event at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, CEO, Darshan M, announced the final driver selection for the inaugural championship. However with the UP polls just around the corner, it was then a battle of logistics for the organizers to re-schedule the race venues, which were spread across Malaysia, Bahrain, Qatar, India and Abu Dhabi.

The UP polls coaxed the management (Machdar Motorsports) to postpone the race that was to take place at the Buddh International circuit at the end of February 2011, This in turn has had a roll on effect on the availability of the other race tracks as well as some of key the drivers, and the series will now commence in January of 2013.

Commenting on the situation, Darshan M, CEO, Machdar Motorsports said, “It is unfortunate that we have had to postpone the i1 Supercar Series to next year but in the long term we feel this will benefit not only the series but motorsports in the country as well. We have taken this hard decision of postponing the series with the consent of all stakeholders involved in the series. They have extended their full support towards this decision as they realize that this has been taken with the league’s long term interests at heart. “

Also, the team owners felt that since motorsport was so nascent in the Indian market, it would be better if they spent more time in educating the fans, building the city level support before commencing the series.  

Backing the decision of the organizers in postponing the start of the championship, one of the selected international drivers for the inaugural championship, Vitantonio Liuzzi, said “If the Promoters took this important decision, I am sure that it has been done as an investment in the long term for the ultimate success of the series. This is why they have my support and availability for the new calendar.”

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Seeing this as an opportunity to better plan effective marketing strategies for promoting their city teams, Bangalore team owner, Arjun Baljee said, “We are relieved that management has decided to postpone the start of the series. This will give us time to plan our brand strategy, bring in partner sponsors and drum up excitement over the next few months for the Bangalore team. A series of this magnitude requires months of planning to get execution right the first time. We have now time to work on the details.”

While fans will be disappointed at the massive delay in the start of the first ever season of the i1 Super Series, expectations from the 2013 season will now be on the higher side, and only thorough planning and co-ordination on the part of the organizers, the concerned partners and the availability of the race circuits and drivers will ensure that January 2013 will indeed be the official flag off for the country’s first ever motorsport league.