FIA brings back racing to India

Formula 4, Indian Racing League and Formula Regional to get underway from 2022.

The Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), Formula One’s governing body, announced on Friday that the Formula Regional Indian Championship and Formula 4 Indian Championship will make their debut in the country for the first time in February 2022.

The championships will be held across four cities – Hyderabad, New Delhi, Chennai and Coimbatore – and will be hosted by Racing Promotions (RPPL). Former Formula One driver Narain Karthikeyan and ex-Indian men’s cricket captain Kapil Dev have been roped in as mentors and advisors for the events.

The winners of both the F4 Indian Championship and Formula Regional Indian Championship will be awarded with FIA Super License points, which will put them a step closer to motor sport’s pinnacle – Formula One.

Along with these two championships, the Indian Racing League will be held as a support race to both the F4 Championship and Formula Regional. A minimum of 40 points will be required to get a drive in Formula One.

Speaking at the event, RPPL Joint MD, Armaan Ebrahim, said, “It is great to finally have world-class equipment and race cars on our home soil. We welcome Akhilesh and Navjeet to our company, and look forward to building a series of championships that enable Indian drivers to compete at the highest level globally and will make Indians a force to reckon with in the motorsport world.”

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Akhilesh Reddy, Chairman of RPPL, also shared his thoughts on the event, “Monaco being a sovereign city-state has produced F1 drivers, and we as a country of a billion-plus now have the platform to give aspiring racing drivers the opportunity to compete with the best in the world and potentially a stepping stone to the apex of motorsports which is F1.”

Preparations have already started, with an investment of INR 100 cr already being made for the development of the cars and street circuits. The events will also see India’s first-ever FIA Graded Street Circuit in Hyderabad.

The Formula 4 championship will be run on the second-generation Tatuus chassis, while the Regional Championship will use the same Alfa Romeo units used in Asian F3.

The Formula Regional championship will see 15 races over the course of five weekends, while F4 Championship will host 15 races too across the same time period. The Indian Racing League will have a couple of more races, 18 in total, over five weekends. The season is scheduled to get underway towards the end of February 2022 and end in March 2022.

The championships are a way forward for the sport in India to not only discover talent but give those talents a platform where they can showcase their skills at a global stage. And with the likes of Formula 2 heavyweights like Prema being involved, not only will it draw attention but also give the young Indian racers a platform to compete against the best in the world.

Prema Powerteam will be involved in developing the environment around the drivers as they will run the technical side of things, making sure all cars run on European standards.

The return of racing championships is a positive way ahead for the racing scenario in India. Between 2011 and 2013, Formula One had hosted three editions of the Indian Grand Prix at the Buddh International Circuit in the Gautam Buddh Nagar in Uttar Pradesh, but due to tax disputes, the event was cancelled and has not returned since. Hopefully, with the return of FIA-backed events, the rest shall take care of itself, so that both the junior and senior levels of motorsport can return to India.