i1 Superseries inaugural season 2013 to be announced

National, February 01, 2012: Machdar Motorsports has announced the postponement of India's first motorsport league, the i1 Supercar Series to 2013. A number of factors came into play, due to which the promoters, supported wholly by the team owners and partners, have jointly been forced to make this decision.

The announcement of the electoral poll dates in UP had resulted in the postponement of the race scheduled in the Buddh International circuit and this had a roll on effect on the availability of the other race tracks as well as some of key the drivers. 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.

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. The change in race calendar due to polling in Uttar Pradesh was already affecting the availability of the international circuits as well participation of the key drivers in the series. This, along with the team owners request for more time, made this decision unavoidable."

"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." added Darshan.

"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, said Arjun Baljee, Managing Director, Peppermint Hotels chain and Bangalore team owner of i1 Supercar Series.

Marketing is the key to make any kind of activity successful. We thus mutually agreed that the time proposed for the race was giving less scope to the team owners to hype the series through branding and marketing initiatives. I am happy that finally we have taken a decision and now we can really start on with the marketing activities that are required to make the series a grand success" said Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri, Director, IIPM think tank & Delhi team owner of i1 Supercar Series.

"The I1 Supercar Series is a great opportunity for India to make an important step in the motor sport industry. 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, "said Vitantonio Liuzzi, International Driver,i1 Supercar Series.