India: This is how the precious GP cargo is transported
By Günther Wiesinger 09/17/2023
The MotoGP freight is transported to the paddock with these state-of-the-art trucks
In India the clocks are different. The teams and reporters are heavily ripped off when it comes to hotels, shuttle services and even visas.
Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta has known for months that hosting the first Indian motorcycle GP would be a huge challenge. That's why he sent a large delegation of Dorna officials to the Buddh International Circuit in August to support the local promoter in his work.
Already in July it became obvious that Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali's warning was entirely justified when he said that Formula 1 would never return to India after the three years 2011 to 2013 because of the bureaucratic obstacles, tax and customs problems returned.
The starting signal for the Indian GP for preparation for the reporters was July 31, 2023. A form with all the necessary information had to be filled out by August 4. This form for everyone involved in the paddock went to the government and also to an agency that takes care of the visa procedure.
"As this is a list for the government, it will not be possible to make any last-minute requests," it was reported. “We therefore recommend that all expected visitors nominate additional GP staff for the Grand Prix ahead of time in case someone needs to be replaced.
On August 27th, the agency reported what it needed. A certain Bobby from the agency Mondy India Pvt Ltd. This Bobby seems to be in charge of everyone. Whenever a visa is mentioned, Bobby is also mentioned as the processor.
On August 28th the bill for around € 120 followed.
What was entertaining for all travelers to India was that there was originally the option of paying via PayPal. But since too much money apparently flowed into the agency account at once, PayPal blocked their account. It was then recommended to transfer the money via the WISE app. It was announced that this is a subsidiary of PayPal.
This meant that you essentially had to set up new bank details. Because 95 percent of the approximately 1,500 GP travelers do not have a WISE account. So the account needs to be verified with ID etc. For some it worked. However, for some team members and reporters, verification did not work straight away and it was unclear whether the money still arrived.
Visa allocation at the last minute and with a rip-off
By the way: Ducati sports director Paolo Ciabatti traveled to New Delhi last Thursday evening; his visa arrived in the morning of the same day.
A number of GP team members contacted SPEEDWEEK.com over the weekend who had a flight for tomorrow, Monday, but no visa yet.
Paying the bill was a prerequisite for the visa process to move forward.
SPEEDWEEK.com reporter Ronny Lekl was lucky, he got it on September 12th. his e-visa by email. However, many others are still waiting for their entry visa. A lot of things will probably work out again shortly.
We remember: At the time of Corona there were some team members for Indonesia, including for the Superbike World Championship, who got their visa two hours before departure. For India, the e-visa is mandatory when boarding the plane, otherwise the trip there is already over.
The price of the visa is $80 plus a few fees. To be on the safe side, the agency takes €120, so they kindly round the amount up a bit...
This business model sounds promising and lucrative. If around 1,500 paddock inmates show up there and each of them pays an additional €30 to the agency, a reasonable amount of pocket money of €45,000 will be generated.
A small side note about the visa: The entry permit states that an electronic visa does not entitle you to any activity or employment in India. Not even for NGO activities, journalistic purposes and so on.
Dorna recommended that reporters should describe themselves as “content creators”, i.e. creators of content, primarily for websites.
In Misano, all media professionals, including drivers, mechanics, etc. had to pick up special stickers that go on the paddock pass, the car parking permit and also on the photo vest.
When asked why this was so, no one could give an answer. It simply says “GP of India 2023” and the name of the GP promoter. Apparently this is intended to prevent all GP members from having to pay taxes for the period of their activity in India.
The authorities even wanted to see the driver contracts and then have the 20th part of the annual salary taxed in India. The works refused, citing data protection reasons.
Exorbitant prices for shuttle service etc.
The Indian GP will be expensive fun for the teams and media. For example, photographers are offered scooters for the route. Price: €150 for three days. Nobody knows what condition these vehicles will be in.
Some teams reported incredibly high costs for a shuttle service. Although rental cars are possible, they cannot be insured for foreigners. That's why locals strongly advise against driving a rental car.
The smaller teams expect costs of around € 8,000 for the shuttle service. For the larger teams, the costs rise to more than € 20,000.
HRC's MotoGP team was told that a cost proposal of €50,000 had initially been made for the shuttle service. This amount was then slightly reduced after tough negotiations – to €28,000.
These services include the pure shuttle service that takes team members from their accommodation to the route and back or to the airport. The teams are talking about a rip-off because the hotel costs have also been increased exorbitantly for the Grand Prix.
The hospitality teams are also complaining. “For us, this will be the most expensive Grand Prix of all time,” said the boss of a MotoGP hospitality company, who is still waiting for two visas from his employees and prefers to remain anonymous.
Liqui Moly Husqvarna Moto3 team owner Peter Öttl: “It is one of the most expensive races. The hotel prices are very high.”
PrüstelGP team principal Florian Prüstel: “India is a very expensive Grand Prix for us. Flights, hotels, visas and shuttle services are very expensive. Furthermore, the basic provision of food and drink is not so easy for us as a team to implement.” The teams are scared as hell about intestinal infections from contaminated food...
In addition, India has now imposed a local lockdown - after a Nipah virus outbreak. We know the scenes from the time of the coronavirus pandemic: ban on gatherings and closed schools. After two people died from an infection with the Nipah virus, the Indian government has declared a lockdown in the Kerala region. This pathogen causes dangerous brain inflammation. Fortunately, this region is 2600 km away from the race track.
Some employees who are already on the route (e.g. Dr. Ángel Charte) pointed out that there are a lot of queues along the route and that you should be careful.
The antique trucks that transported the precious cargo from New Delhi Airport to the Buddh Circuit also don't seem very trustworthy.
But Geoff Dixon, IRTA's paddock manager, can at least report to the teams the successful completion of transporting the material from Italy to New Delhi. “So far everything is going according to plan,” reported the Englishman when asked by SPEEDWEEK.com. «The last flight arrives on Sunday and will be slightly delayed, but it's only a few hours. This aircraft only transports general goods, i.e. no racing motorcycles and so on. We assume that all cargo will have arrived in the paddock on Monday morning.”