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India’s top international drivers Armaan Ibrahim and Aditya Patel, have come together to introduce a custom-made two-seater sports car racing league to India that will begin next year. The Xtreme1 Racing League or X1 Racing League will comprise both track and street circuits and is the world’s only city based motorsport league. Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chandigarh, and Mumbai will play host to street circuits where the tracks will be prepared like the ones in Monaco or Singapore. MMRT and BIC will host the circuit races. There will be a total of 8 franchise teams and each team will have two cars and four drivers. Both male and female drivers will be racing alongside each other in the league. This will create a platform to spot upcoming driving talent in India while also promoting motorsports in the country.
A number of investors have come forward to support the X1 Racing League, including the ex-founder of Freecharge, Kunal Shah. Other investors include Rattha Group from Chennai, Mumbai based White Unicorn Ventures, AngelList India LLP from Delhi and Jitendra Gupta of PayU. The investors reckon that the X1 Racing League can get the attention of the Indian audience and infuse interest in motorsports among all age groups by broadcasting the races live on TV. More than Rs 100 crore will be invested by the X1 Racing League over the next three years for the development and promotional activities. The investment does not include R&D, technology, street circuit infrastructure and safety equipment for the races. The X1 Racing League will also have a budget of Rs 25-30 crore as for marketing purposes to reach a wide audience.
The X1 Racing League is sanctioned by the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI), the governing body of motorsports in the country. Discussions are on with the top drivers from Formula One, Formula E, Indy 500, Le Mans and NASCAR drivers to take part in the X1 Racing League. Each team will have one international male and female driver, one Indian driver who has at least five years of experience in international series, and one Indian driver who is currently participating in national racing. The owning process of the teams will be announced soon.
This isn’t the first time that the IPL format is being explored for a motorsport series. Machdar Motorsports Private Limited had explored a similar idea with the i1 Super Series more than six years ago. The organisers were toying with the idea of a one make single-seater race series but based on the IPL team ownership format. They had also approached the FMSCI for approval and were supposed to have started in 2012. Due to reasons undisclosed, the series never got under way.
Starting from the first quarter of 2019, the league races will take place on Saturdays and Sundays for four consecutive weekends. There will be three races in a day and duration of each race will be 45 minutes. A yearlong domestic season with over 12 races will also be included in the calendar apart from the main season. The league will see many innovative race formats. There is also an option called ‘patron’s seat’ where the owner can take part in the race or appoint someone of their choice to race. The racing league aims to break the myths about motorsports being costly, dangerous and male centric. The FMSCI, with this racing series sets out to prove otherwise.
We cannot wait for the racing league to start next year!
Here’s what famous motorsport personalities had to say about the X1 Racing League:
“The X1 Racing League is a great product and the team of Aditya and Armaan are very well-equipped to execute a successful motorsports league. As a long-term believer in motorsports, the X1 Racing League has the right mix of traditional motorsports along with the modern mix for TV viewing audience and fan engagement that will make it successful from year 1. The league’s ethos of providing equal opportunities to upcoming race drivers and gender neutrality through the inclusion of women drivers is quite a headline and I fully support their vision. This will surely encourage young Indian motorsports enthusiasts and in particular, women to take this sport as a professional career choice. Commercially, this product has the potential to deliver high ROI to all stakeholders and is a great way to promote road safety through motorsports in India. We wish the X1 Racing League a very successful launch and extend my full support.”
“The launch of the X1 Racing League promoted by the Racing Promotions Group based in India is indeed good news for Indian Motorsport. The city/club-based franchise league for 4W is an exciting concept and is sure to attract a large following across the board. The league will surely generate a lot of interest not just for the National and International drivers, but also for the Franchisees, Brand Ambassadors, Media, and Spectators.The league promises to give opportunities to young Indian drivers to rub shoulders with famous International drivers and compete with them on an even platform. And with a solid media plan in place, the talented young drivers from India will find that this like the IPL will become an ideal platform for the world to recognize their talents.
Another important aspect is the promotion of women in Motorsport. Each team will have one Woman driver of International experience, who will be paired with an Indian International driver. The performances of these drivers will surely give a huge boost to the interest levels of our Indian women drivers who can start to aspire to get selected in the future to represent one of the teams.And finally, the most exciting aspect of the league is that it proposes to run 2 of the 4 rounds in 2019 on street circuits. This will be a big breakthrough, as a street circuit takes the sport to the masses and thus automatically helps build the interest and following in the sport.”
“X1 Racing League is well-positioned for high-growth and scale. The long-term success will hinge on the broadcast rights and distribution platforms, and the reach but we’re confident with the innovations in product, packaging and the marketing strategy that has been mapped out, the media valuations would show right after the first edition. With the penetration of sports at an all-time high and the high spends in sports media, I’m excited where this can go. I look forward to helping the founders and the management establish, grow and scale the league.”
“I’m always interested in opportunities that help promote equality in motorsport, so I was impressed with the idea and vision behind the X1 Racing League. In a moment in time where most people with funding seem to want to segregate female racers, it was refreshing to be approached by a championship that wants to help not only nurture up and coming Indian talent, but also be at the forefront of trying to create more opportunities for female racers in an equal environment.”
“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. 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.”
“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.”
