Buddh International, India

After already having staged the first race, the World Superbike calendar has finally been updated and lost its provisional status. Today, the FIM issued an official, finalized version of the 2013 World Superbike calendar, confirming the changes we reported on yesterday.

The Silverstone race has been confirmed, and the Subject To Contract status has been removed from the Portimao and Imola rounds. The round originally scheduled for June 23rd has been scrapped, and a new round scheduled for Istanbul Park on September 15th. The replacement of Istanbul Park for the 23rd June round, for which Brno had originally been penciled in, means that the Superstock calendar is reduced by one round, from 10 races to just 9, while the World Superbike calendar now has 15 rounds planned, including two races in the UK, at Donington and Silverstone, and a trip across the Atlantic to Laguna Seca.

Below is the official press release issued by the FIM containing the updated and finalized calendar:

FIM Superbike, Supersport World Championships & FIM Superstock 1000cc Cup

New round on the 2013 calendar

The FIM today issued a press release confirming the news that the Indian round of World Superbikes has been moved to November 17th, as we reported earlier today. Below is the official press release:

FIM Superbike, Supersport World Championships & FIM Superstock 1000cc Cup

2013 Provisional calendar, updated 15 January (Change in bold)

The World Superbike race in India has been moved from the 10 March to the 17 November due to an insufficient period of time to properly finalise the training of the marshals and medical staff around the racetrack. FIM representatives will be at the Indian track on 19, 20 and 21 this January, in order to carry out the final racetrack homologation and provide the relevant seminars about the different aspects involved in the sporting organisation of the event.

The confusion surrounding the Indian round of World Superbikes looks close to being resolved. According to reports on the ever well-informed GPOne.com, the race at the Buddh International Circuit is to be rescheduled from 10th of March to the 17th of November, moving it from being the second race of the season to being the season finale.

The race had been facing a number of problems, including logistical and customs issues, casting doubt over whether the race could go ahead as scheduled in March. The customs issues - both the 15-day inspection period for technical equipment, and the temporary import duty charged - are not so much of a problem, according to GPOne. The real issue, the site reports, is that the race organizers are not yet ready to put on the event. They do not have the organization in place to manage an event of this magnitude, and need a number of months to get everything arranged. The problem lies not with Buddh International Circuit itself, located not far from New Delhi, as the circuit has successfully organized two Formula One races already.

The inaugural round of World Superbikes in India is under serious threat, leaving Dorna facing severe problems just months after taking over the running of the WSBK series. Bureaucracy, customs formalities and import bonds threaten to see the race, scheduled to be held on March 10th at the Buddh International Circuit near New Delhi in India, either postponed or called off indefinitely, according to reports over on GPOne.com.

The problem revolves around the difficulties faced by the need to temporarily import large quantities of material into India, and consists of two parts, GPOne is reporting. The first issue is one of timing: the Indian round of WSBK is due to be held on March 10th, just two weeks after the opening round of the series at Phillip Island in Australia. The problem is that Indian customs regulations demand that the technical equipment (bikes, parts, tools, and other equipment) need to be in a customs warehouse in India 15 days ahead of the race, to allow the customs service time to inspect the goods prior to entry into the country. That would make racing at Phillip Island difficult, given that it would mean that the bikes would have to be in India at around the same time that the WSBK men need them to contest Superpole on the Saturday before the race.