Formula Regional Indian Championship: Everything You Need To Know

In a landmark moment for Indian motorsports, the Formula Regional Indian Championship has officially been launched. Promoted by Racing Promotions Private Limited, this new FIA-certified championship aims to create a proper structured racing ladder for aspiring racers in the country to make their mark in the international motorsports area. And it could have the right ingredients to make it happen. Here’s all you need to know about India’s newest racing platform:

The Championships

Formula Regional India

This’ll be India's first ever FIA-Graded F3 championship which is set to have international and Indian drivers compete in FIA-sanctioned Regional F3 cars that are powered by 1.8-litre turbocharged Alfa Romeo engines pushing 270PS of power. The race format will have 15 drivers competing in 15 races spread across a season spanning five rounds.  What’s more, it’ll have Prema Powerteam as its technological partner which is big considering the vast experience Prema brings with its success in junior formula categories around the world. 

F4 Indian Championship

A step below F3, and a series catering towards those that are making their first steps out of karting and into single-seater formula racing. This championship will utilise FIA-homologated F4 cars powered by 1.4-litre Abarth engines producing 170PS. Here, the grid will make up 12 drivers with the same 15 races and five-round season as the Formula Regional India series. Prema Powertrain will provide technical support. 

Indian Racing League 

Get latest updates on
the automobile community

Login Now

Remember the X1 Racing League that debuted in 2019? Well it's been reborn as the Indian Racing League as another support series to Formula Regional India . It’ll have six city-based franchise teams competing with a grid of 24 drivers that includes men and women. As for their racing machines, the IRL will use Wolf single seaters that will be powered by 1.1-litre Aprilia engines making 220PS. The race format remains the same as the other two racing series.

The Rewards

Now here’s where these championships get really juicy. Since these are FIA-sanctioned series, they qualify for FIA superlicence points. Now we all know that in order to even be eligible to compete in Formula One even though there’s no guarantee of it, you need to have an FIA superlicense. As per the regulations, to get this superlicense, you need to score 40 points over a period of three year to be elibilge for one.  The Formula Regional India and the F4 Indian Championship provide racers the opportunity to score them. 

For the Formula Regional India F3 series, the top nine finishers in the overall standings will be awarded FIa superlicense points via this format:  18, 14, 12, 10, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1. The F4 Indian Championship on the other hand will award points to the top seven finishers in the championship in this format-- 12, 10, 7, 5, 3, 2, 1. Essentially it's a clear racing ladder for a racing driver to score a full 30 points from these two championships if they win it.

That’s not all, as the Formula Regional India series winner will also get a free seat in the F3 Asian Championship. The winner of the F4 Indian Championship on the other hand will get a free seat in the Formula Regional India F3 series. 

Eligibility 

Of course, there will be certain criteria to be met for drivers to be eligible for these championships. For the F4 Indian Championship, drivers need to have experience competing in 4-stroke and 2-stroke karting championships to be eligible. There will also be training programs to evaluate and decide if the drivers can participate. Those that already have recent single-seater experience in India in series like the Formula 1600, will also be eligible, but there will be training programs for evaluation. As for the Formula Regional India F3 series,  drivers have to have spent at least one year racing in F4 to be eligible to participate. 

Also, Armaan Ebrahim, and Aditya Patel, two racers that have already made history for Indian motorsports and were the duo behind the X1 Racing League, will be involved in driver scouting, training and coaching. 

Calendar

The five round season will kick off in 2022 starting with preseason testing at the Buddh International Circuit (BIC) near Greater Noida on February 23-24. This will be followed by the season opener at the same venue from February 25-27, with the season finale in March 2022. The championship was run at four circuits in the country, with three of them being the Buddh International Circuit, the Madras Motor Racing Track in Chennai, and the Kari Motor Speedway at Coimbatore. The fourth one will be an all-new FIA Grade 2 street circuit in Hyderabad spanning 2.376km and will host two rounds of the season.

As things stand, on paper, the Formula Regional Indian championship seems to have the potential to make a huge impact in creating opportunities in Indian motorsport. For that to happen, we’ll only see the effect once racing action kicks off. In fact, more details are set to surface as we get closer to the season opener in February.