The farce and theatrics refuse to die down at the Hyderabad street circuit. On a cool and overcast Saturday, the handful of die-hard racing fans swallowed yet another cancellation pill as the qualification race for the Indian Racing League (IRL) season finale was called off on Saturday.
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The track wore a deserted look, a few committed fans kept staring at the empty seats, often grazing eyes towards the circuit, only to watch a flock of pigeons or an odd car making rounds. While the fans’ endurance was put to the test instead of the drivers, the season finale of the IRL ran into rough gravel, once again.
According to the IRL weekend provisional schedule, that is in possession with Sportstar, the drivers were supposed to kick off the weekend showdown with a media interaction and then enter their single-seater cockpit for the first practice session (FP1) from 11:00-11:40 AM.
A Bangalore Speedster racing car being towed away during the only practice session at the Hyderabad racing circuit on Saturday. | Photo Credit: RAMAKRISHNA G
Post lunch, the second practice session (FP2) was scheduled from 1:10 PM to 1:50 PM. The qualification was set to begin at 3:10 PM and end at 04:45 PM. However, the race cars wheeled out of their pitlanes for the first time in the day at 4:10 PM and with dusk approaching, the qualification race was thrown out of the window.
“We bought tickets to watch the race and since morning there has been no action. And now we are hearing there is no qualification race. Once again we couldn’t watch a race,” a spectator said.
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Kartik Vanam, a part of the iconic NTR Gardens parkland, adjacent to the race track that was supposed to be buzzing with racing enthusiasts alongside racing cars zooming at breakneck speeds, saw race workers enjoying an afternoon siesta.
“We never expected to be this empty as last time there was a mad rush for tickets. We are here since morning doing our job and making the stands ready for spectators. But, with no crowd, we are relaxing hoping to catch some action,” a race track worker said.
The long delay in starting the practice session followed by the cancellation of the qualification race was hard to comprehend with the IRL officials on radio silence.
The stakes are high with the Formula E knocking on the door and it remains to be seen if drivers and fans see the green flag fluttering, this time, in the final race on Sunday.
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