Indian Racing League
CategorySingle-seater
CountryIndia
Drivers30
Official websiterpplind.com
Current season

The Indian Racing League (formerly known as the X1 Racing League) is an auto racing championship based in India.

It is unrelated to the proposed i1 Super Series that was based on a similar idea.

History

It is co-founded by Indian professional drivers, Aditya Patel[1] and Armaan Ebrahim. The X1Racing follows the X1Racing eSports Racing season 1, a digital-simulator based racing competition which was held in Mumbai, Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Delhi.

For the first season in 2019, the series operated decade-old Formula BMW machinery having originally planned to run Radicals. Just two events were held having scheduled four, and track-time at the second and final round was condensed due to travel constraints. A number of the cars suffered from mechanical problems, halving the field from 12 cars to 6 at the second and final event.[2] A number of drivers also abandoned the championship between the events on safety grounds – including Christina Nielsen and Mathias Lauda, who reported that their race-suits had been soaked by a fuel leak during a qualifying session.[3] The Bangalore Racing Stars team were crowned champions.[4]

After delays due to the coronavirus pandemic, the championship returned in late-2022 having been re-named the Indian Racing League. The series was scheduled to be held alongside the Formula Regional Indian Championship before moving to a standalone schedule, whilst organisers imported a fleet of Wolf GB08s to avoid the technical issues that beset the first season.[5] Despite this, all of the races at the first event in Hyderabad were cancelled after Vishnu Prasad broke his leg in a practice crash.[6]

Format

Teams are franchise-based and represent major Indian cities. Each team has two cars and four drivers – two drivers must be Indian, one a professional from outside of India and one female driver. Two drivers are assigned to each car, one Indian driver and one international/female driver.

In 2019, each event consisted of three 30mins + 1 lap races. The races were relays, with a mandatory pit-stop for a driver change in each.

In 2022, three races will again be held per round – but the first two of these will be 25min + 1 lap "sprint races" and the third is a 45min + 1 lap "feature race". As there are two drivers per car, for Race 1 Driver A will qualify and Driver B will start, for Race 2 Driver B will qualify and Driver A will start, and the feature race will see the grid determined by aggregate event points with both drivers competing by way of a mandatory driver change.[7]

Champions

Season Driver Team and contributing drivers
2019 not awarded Bangalore Racing Stars India Nayan Chatterjee
Denmark Michelle Gatting
India Arjun Maini
India Vishnu Prasad
United Kingdom Oliver Webb
2022 India Akhil Rabindra
Hyderabad Blackbirds
Godspeed Kochi United Kingdom Jordan Albert[a]
India Ruhaan Alva
United States Nikhil Bohra
Liechtenstein Fabienne Wohlwend
Malaysia Alister Yoong
2023 South Africa Raoul Hyman
India Sohil Shah
Goa Aces
Bangalore Speedsters India Ashwin Datta
India Kyle Kumaran
United Kingdom Sarah Moore
United Kingdom Oliver Webb

Notes

  1. ^ Albert was entered in the first round in Hyderabad, in which practice sessions were held but qualifying and race sessions were cancelled.

References

  1. ^ "X1 league will help change India's motorsport profile:Ebrahim". 29 October 2019 – via Business Standard.
  2. ^ https://www.autocarindia.com/motor-sports-news/x1-racing-league-an-unfortunate-letdown-415221
  3. ^ https://www.evoindia.com/motorsport/x1-racing-league-ipl-of-motorsport-kicks-off-at-bic
  4. ^ https://www.autocarindia.com/motor-sports-news/bangalore-racing-stars-crowned-x1-racing-league-season-1-champions-415194
  5. ^ https://www.newindianexpress.com/sport/other/2022/nov/15/indian-racing-league-from-november-19-2518264.html
  6. ^ Aravind, V. S. (2022-11-20). "Indian Racing League called off abruptly". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2022-11-21.
  7. ^ https://www.hyderabadzone.com/news/indian-racing-league-hyderabad-weekend-ticket-price.html