India’s X1 Racing League has released its entry list for the inaugural season in 2019 with host of ex-F1 racers and other international stars.
In a franchisee format with six teams based on six cities, the X1 Racing League has released the list of drivers taking part in the inaugural season in 2019. The series will take place on successive weekends in November and December.
The first X1 Racing League race will take place at the home of Indian GP i.e Buddh International Circuit (BIC, Greater Noida/Delhi) on November 30 – December 1, with the second event at the Madras Motor Race Track (MMRT, Chennai) on December 7-8.
The initial idea from GT racers Aditya Patel and Armaan Ebraham – co-owners of the series – was to stage the races on the streets in selected cities but looking at the magnitude of the work needed to be done, it was decided to gradually work towards it.
The same goes with the cars, where they were to run the radicals prepared by Jayem Automotives, but it looks like that they are to use the old Formula BMW cars – which were run by JK Tyre Motorsport. Although, it is to be modified to provide better racing.
The list of the teams cum cities and their owners were already revealed last month with Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai and Ahmedabad being the six for now. Their respective driver names were released this week after an indoor draft event.
Each team has a total of four racers with one spot reserved for an international star, one for a female racer, one being an Indian international racer and one domestic. They have one extra Indian racer in the list as well, if the team feels the need to shuffle around.
Among the ex-F1 racers, they have India’s Narain Karthikeyan, Italy’s Vitantonio Liuzzi and Malaysia’s Alex Yoong. Another star attraction is Niki Lauda’s son Mathias, with Oliver James Webb, Mikkel Jensen and Franky Cheng being the other international racers.
The female contingent is led by Pippa Mann with veterans like Michelle Gatting, Rahel Frey, Christina Neilsen, Gosia Rdest and Alice Powell in as well. Among the Indian internationals, they have Gaurav Gill, Arjun Maini, Kush Maini, Akhil Rabindra and Krishnaraaj Mahadik.
The domestic Indians list features Anindith Reddy, Arjun Narendrnan, Vishnu Prasad, Nayan Chatterjee, Yash Aradhya, Karthik Tharanisingh, Sohil Shah, Raghul Rangasamy, Ashwin Datta, Arjun Balu, Chittesh Mandody and Ameya Walavalkar.
The team’s division for X1 Racing League goes by:
Black Birds Hyderabad: Akhil Rabindra, Tonio Luizzi, Gosia Rdest, Arjun Narendran, Anindth Reddy.
Bangalore Racing Stars: Arjun Maini, Oliver James Webb, Michelle Gatting, Nayan Chatterjee, Vishnu Prasad.
Mumbai Falconss: Khush Maini, Mikkel Jensen, Pippa Mann, Sohil Shah, Karthik Tharanisingh.
DG Racing Ahmedabad: Krishna Mahadik, Alex Yoong, Rahel Frey, Chittesh Mandody, Ameya Walavalkar.
AD Racing Delhi: Gaurav Gill, Mathias Luada, Christina Neilsen, Raghul Rangaswamy, Ashwin Datta.
NK Racing Chennai: Narain Karthikeyan, Frankie Cheng, Alice Powell, Arjun Balu, Yash Aradhya.