The event earlier scheduled to be held on March 10 was to be the second round of the Championship but with the new date of November 17, it will be the final round of the season.
The problem does not lie with the track -- Buddh International Circuit at Greater Noida -- as it has successfully organised two Formula One races already. It's apparently due to the reason that the race organisers have not yet put in place the organisational structure, including training of race staff.
"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," a statement from the FIM said while updating the 2013 provisional calendar.
"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 statement said.
The change in date is expected to increase the cost of the round. Under the initial schedule, the bikes and equipment would have flown from Australia to New Delhi for the Indian round of World Superbikes, and then back to Europe for the continuation of the season from there. The additional cost of the stopover in India would have been small.
Now, the equipment will have to be flown from Australia to Europe in February, and then back to India in November.
Moreover, it remains to be seen how the rescheduling of the round will affect the attendance of the Indian fans. Whether having the race at the end of the year will increase the enthusiasm of the Indian fans, once they've had an entire season to follow the series, or whether the series will suffer as a result of the F1 race, scheduled for October 27, three weeks before the WSBK round.
