MotoGP Indian GP: A commentator’s diary

If Steve Jobs and hundreds of others are to be believed, when on your deathbed, you are most likely going to reminisce about the most memorable moments of your life. Amidst the heartbreaks, the banter and the near-death experiences, the memories that would truly stand out head and shoulders above the rest would be the ones that seemed next to impossible, but turned out to be a reality.

Without a shadow of a doubt, I know that the inaugural MotoGP Indian GP in 2023 will be a core memory that will stick till the very end for hundreds, if not thousands of motorsport fans like me, simply because of how far-fetched the dream of a World Championship motorsport event returning to Indian shores felt.

When you’ve been told for almost all your life that something you deeply wish for can never happen – and then you witness it taking place before your very eyes, there’s a very slim chance that you will ever forget the moment when it happened. For myself and thousands of other Indian motorsport fans, the 2023 MotoGP Indian GP was a once in a lifetime moment of that calibre.

Lucky me that I didn’t just witness it on ground – I was commentating on a World Championship GP at the Buddh International Circuit – something I had dreamt of while at the 2011 F1 Indian GP as an 8-year old.

With so many incredible moments, I feel compelled to share with you my experience of working as a Circuit Commentator at the 2023 MotoGP Indian GP.

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The openness of the paddock

The daredevils who tame a MotoGP bike are not normal human beings in any way. It takes something special within you to accept that every lap you take could well be your last one and that you’ve got to get as close to the edge as anyone possibly can. How crazy must they be as people?

Surely, doing a gargantuan task as challenging as racing a MotoGP bike can be enough for most to develop a bit of an ego, but to my surprise, a vast majority of riders and paddock personnel were extremely open and approachable, which cannot be said about every championship.

Over the course of the race weekend, I had the fortune of being able to interact with riders like Aleix Espargaro, Maverick Vinales, Franco Morbidelli, Francesco ‘Pecco’ Bagnaia, Pol Espargaro, Miguel Olivera, Takaki Nakagami, Ducati Corse manager Gigi Dall’lgna, the legend and my dad’s old favourite, Max Biaggi and the most special of all, the 8 time world champion Marc Marquez!

Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Vinales

Franco Morbidelli

Takaaki Nakagami of LCR Honda

Gigi Dall’lgna of Ducati Corse

The legend himself, Marc Marquez

Miguel Olivera of Trackhouse Aprilia

MotoGP legend Max Biaggi

GasGas Tech 3’s Pol Espargaro

None were more generous with their time than the two KTM riders: Jack Miller and Brad Binder. I was able to spend a good time chatting with both of them at the end of Saturday and Sunday respectively, asking them about the track conditions, the primary challenge of racing at a circuit like the Buddh International Circuit and more.

The affable Jack Miller of the factory KTM team

Best of all, my hero, Brad Binder, also took out the time to explain to me how he actually does his stunning rear-end slides while approaching a corner. “It’s simple. Just like a motocross bike you just push hard on the rear brakes, use your core at the right time and get the bike to slide away”.

The greats always make the hardest things look easy, don’t they!

A blurred but memorable picture with my hero, Brad Binder

Stirring up the most electrifying crowd

Watching all sorts of sports as a kid at home, I used to smirk when athletes used to say that they feed off the energy of the attending crowd. How could a loud audience have any impact on your performance? At the end of the day, it’s all just noise, isn’t it? The best performers must have an innate ability to tune out all the noise and to focus on what they’re doing.

While this sounds all too good in theory, when you get to witness a livewire crowd of 58,000 people pumped up to watch the racing, all the theory goes out in the bin. My co-commentator, Solomon Porres and I were tasked with stirring up the audience and getting them excited for the racing ahead, a task that was taken care of, in part, by how animated they were already.

Before the start of the MotoGP race on Sunday, during the pre-race buildup, I discovered a drug sweeter than anything else in life: stirring up a live audience of this scale.

For the entirety of the hour between the Moto2 and the MotoGP race, I had goosebumps on my arm as thousands of fans around the circuit cheered frantically to each rider we introduced and each chant we started.

The melting hot Buddh International Circuit was suddenly converted into a proper motorsport party as the attending fans made sure to have their voices heard. It was unlike any sporting atmosphere I had ever witnessed on TV or in person, to the point that many on the grid claimed that it was next to impossible for them to hear each other because of how loud the crowd was!

I will forever remember three key moments from the pre-race buildup. First, when I had the honour of being able to introduce the defending World Champion Francesco ‘Pecco’ Bagnaia to the Indian crowd. I was always aware of the kind of support he had within the Indian fans online, but to hear them showcase their support on ground when their hero was mentioned was a special moment. That’s when I first realised that this crowd we had on our hands was exceptional!

 

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I thought that the roar for the defending champion Bagnaia would be the pinnacle of noise for the day, but I was going to be proven wrong in some fashion minutes later! Lower down the grid came India and possibly the whole world’s favourite active MotoGP rider, the legend, Marc Marquez. Every strand of hair on my arm was standing in awe while introducing him and then listening to the mind blowing noise that the fans made when hearing his name. You live for moments like these.

The atmosphere was so electric that even the MotoGP world feed commentators had to acknowledge the passion and intensity with which the live crowd were cheering for their heroes in the buildup to the race. If there was ever a way to judge the hunger for MotoGP in India, that hour leading up to the main race would sum it up perfectly!

 

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Uncertainty makes it sweeter

For a whole decade after Formula One said goodbye to India, the future looked bleak for any other motorsport world championship to host an Indian GP, even after the inaugural Formula E Hyderabad ePrix in 2023. The tax laws of the previous government and the far-from mobilised motorsport community in India barely provided any incentive for a major championship like Formula One or MotoGP to come to town.

As a result, when the race was initially announced, a vast majority of us had to temper the excitement bubbling within, given the millions of operational hurdles that any championship could have to face when racing in India.

In fact, even until the Thursday of the MotoGP Indian GP, the motorsport community wasn’t 100% sure if the GP would go ahead due to the delays to the track homologation and the arrival of visas for a majority of the paddock personnel.

That said, when I was waiting at the airport to catch my flight to Delhi on the Friday morning before the race, only one sentence came out of my mouth upon watching the bikes on track on the live stream – “Wow, these guys have made it happen.”

This would end up being a line I would repeat in awe multiple times each day as it dawned upon me that the race was truly going ahead and that our decade-long dream was about to turn into reality.

The most special moment of realisation though, was walking into the paddock building at 8 PM on Friday, where I was meant to get my accreditation and be briefed about our task in hand for the weekend. The first thing that I could notice was Aleix Espargaro cycling on track in the heat as most of the circuit was covered in darkness. “What a madman. He’s done 40-odd laps in the searing Delhi heat this morning on a MotoGP bike and he ends the day with 2 hours of cycling?!,” I thought.

However, as the commitment levels of Espargaro and the MotoGP riders dawned upon me, I was able to pay attention to just how pretty the once abandoned Buddh International Circuit looked.

The Buddh International Circuit, in all its glory on Friday evening.

We had all been here multiple times since Formula One’s last race here in 2013. The old Formula One banners and posters would hang around every time, making the magnificent circuit look like a sorry and weak form of its glorious past. The paint would always seem old, the humongous fountain at the entry would stand stuck, hardly flashing its eye catching water tricks, the pit buildings would feel hollow and the stands would seem woefully neglected for years.

This time was different though. With a World Championship rolling back into town, the good old Buddh International Circuit felt reborn. Fresh paint, new sponsor banners, giant MotoGP flags, a a working fountain, fresh marshall posts, light in the promoter’s office and above all, crisp new  MotoGP rider banners above each pit box gave the once sad circuit a new lease of life.

Once again, only one sentence rolled out of my mouth – “Wow, these guys have made it happen.”

The experience was only going to take off from here.

The aura of a World Championship

At the end of my commentary duties at the track on Saturday, where we witnessed some phenomenal qualifying action for all 3 classes, I was left with only one question. “What was more special about a World Championship like MotoGP? The phenomenal performance and sound of the bikes or the brilliant riders who tame it?”

Commentating on machines of this calibre in person for the first time, I was in absolute awe of the speeds that each class could carry. Watching 250cc Moto3 bikes clock 230 kph on the back straight and take a few corners as fast as bikes of higher classes blew my mind. You simply cannot understand just how fast and on the edge these riders are when watching them on TV.

To then witness the majestic sound of the 765cc Triumph Moto2 engines in real life for the first time gave me literal goosebumps. An engine note that sounded like smooth velvet virtually had enough grunt and loudness to rip your eardrums out in person.

The view from our commentary box on Saturday.

I had to pause the commentary during the Moto2 practice session, just so that we could all experience the raw sound together and be blown away. Hearing that beautiful roar live and watching the young Moto2 riders wrestle bikes more than twice their body weight makes you truly appreciate the racing in the junior classes all the more.

It is interesting how diverse, but valuable your learnings in both junior classes leading up to MotoGP are. While drafting and pack racing are the essentials taught in Moto3, Moto2 is a lot more about managing the physicality of heavier bikes over longer race distances.

That brings us to witnessing MotoGP bikes in person. In spite of their rocket-like straight-line speeds most often catching the eye, I was particularly amazed by how quickly the bikes decelerated. A combination of the innovative aero and some of the most powerful motorcycle brakes in the world, it took me a whole practice session just to digest how late the riders were braking into the sharp Turn 1 and how much cornering speed they could carry!

Another such moment of realisation was watching the riders scrape their knees and shoulders on the tarmac in person. The modern TV cameras do an incredible job of capturing how deep the riders lean into corners, but I personally developed a greater respect for how committed the riders were by watching them do their thing right before my eyes.

The moment the bikes start turning into the corner, you start to wonder just how deep they can lean and before you know it, they’re leaning 10 degrees deeper than you could imagine. Watching the MotoGP riders corner lap after lap shatters your conceptions about just how quick a motorcycle can go around a circuit. The bikes they race on are absolutely huge and no matter how many safety measures are taken, you’re still on the very ragged edge.

The impact of the inaugural MotoGP Indian GP

When Marco Bezzecchi crossed the finish line as the winner of the first ever MotoGP Indian GP and ensued some of the crazy celebrations, it was all clear as day to the whole world watching – there is a huge appetite for MotoGP in the country along with all the tools to fulfil said appetite.

A few logistical issues such as the visa and the painstaking New Delhi heat aside, the promoters had managed to bring over 100.000 fans from across the country to a race track in the middle of nowhere in the maddening September heat, all with minimal marketing spends.

Even after the racing ended, thousands of fans stayed back for the concerts and the festival after the race, even though the main city was easily a couple of hours away from the circuit, showcasing the passion the attending audience had. This was in spite of the fact that the fan zone and other fan amenities still had great potential to be improved as experiences.

With an immensely short deadline to turn the race into reality, the promoters went all out just to get the ball rolling and at the end, they achieved a decade long dream of bringing World Championship track motorsport to India. But this is only just the beginning.

After the concept has been proven to be a success, everyone is hungry for more: the riders for another chance to race at such a technically challenging circuit, the manufacturers to be able to reach out to the immense Indian market, the promoters to make this event exponentially bigger and better than it already was and the fans to be able to witness such incredible racing action before their very eyes yet again.

Imagine how big this race could be when it returns to the MotoGP calendar early in 2025 if all the manufacturers who race in MotoGP and sell in India put forward their marketing might to promote the event and if the promoters go all out in making it the most happening place to be in all of India for that weekend.

March 2025 cannot come soon enough. When it does, I can’t wait to see you there at the Buddh International Circuit, making noise for all your favourite riders!v