110 commissioners from Bahrain will be in India

For the new circuits, besides having infrastructures ready on time, one of the great challenges is to have trained marshals capable of ensuring the safety of drivers and spectators. To ensure this, the Indian Grand Prix will bring in 110 marshals trained at the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Thus Vicky Chandhok, president of the Federation of Indian Automobile Sports Clubs and father of driver Karun Chandhok: «We have reached an agreement with the Bahrain Automobile Federation and 110 experienced marshals will be present for the Indian Grand Prix.»

Usually, workers from the subcontinent are more likely to head to the Persian Gulf than the other way around. But India is keen to assert itself as a global power and cannot afford an incident to tarnish its image, especially after the Commonwealth Games fiasco.

In its approach, India is still less extreme than Abu Dhabi: in 2009, the Emirate brought in 350 stewards directly from Silverstone, without any local stewards. India, on the other hand, will train 230 local stewards from the first edition to gradually reduce the number of foreign stewards: This year, we have 110 stewards from Bahrain and as the Indian stewards gain experience, we hope to reduce this number to 60 in 2012. By 2013, we should have a completely Indian team of stewards.

To enhance the training of its marshals, the organization will send about thirty of them to the Bahrain circuit so they can train during the GP2 Asia race. They will return to the Gulf for the F1 Grand Prix, which takes place in early March. Other marshals may also be sent to other races to further their training.

With the participation of RacingBusiness.fr