India's X1 Racing League to debut in 2019, feature street circuits

Sanctioned by Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India, the series will take place over four consecutive weekends in the first quarter of next year.

Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida and Chennai’s Madras Motor Race Track are most likely to feature on the calendar, but talks are also underway with authorities in Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chandigarh, and Mumbai for two street races. The idea is to emulate successful circuits like Monaco, Singapore and Macau.

Each round will consist of three races of 45 minutes each, with organisers planning innovative race formats.

The championship aims to lure several international drivers from Formula 1, Formula E, NASCAR, IndyCar and Le Mans 24 Hours to generate interest among foreign audiences.

The league will consist of eight city-based franchise teams, each comprising two cars and four drivers. Every team must run one international male driver, one international female driver, one Indian international driver and one Indian domestic driver.

A driver will be classified as ‘Indian international’ if he has at least five years of experience of competing abroad, while an ‘Indian domestic driver’ will be picked up from one of the national championships.

“Team owners in X1 are guaranteed high-visibility and potentially high-ROI due to the sound commercial model of ownership of the teams, and also revenue distribution of the league,” Ebrahim said.

“At 6.5-7Cr per year all-inclusive, ownership is priced super competitively as all aspects are managed centrally to optimize and streamline the costs.”

Aditya Patel added: “Armaan and I have been discussing the concept of a Motorsport league for a couple of years now and we're excited to finally be able to get our idea of the ground and to the market.

“We believe that our concept will change the way people look at Motorsport, not just in India but all over the world as well. We thank the FMSCI for their support of the league and backing our vision. We cannot wait for the Indian audiences to experience motorsports like never before.”