The 2022 Indian Racing League was a single seater motor racing championship held across India. The series served as a revised reboot of the X1 Racing League and was originally planned to be run alongside the Formula Regional Indian Championship and F4 Indian Championship. These two championships were delayed to 2023, but the Indian Racing League still went ahead.

Akhil Rabindra (Hyderabad Blackbirds) won the drivers' title, while Godspeed Kochi won the teams' championship.

Teams and drivers

All drivers competed with single-seater Wolf GB08 Thunder cars, fitted with a Aprilia engine. The teams were based on Indian cities, like they were in the X1 Racing League. TeamDriverRoundsGodspeed Kochi1 Ruhaan AlvaAll Fabienne WohlwendAll2 Jordan Albert1 Alister Yoong2–4 Nikhil BohraAllBangalore Speedsters3 Bianca BustamanteAll Rishon RajeevAll4 Anshul GandhiAll Oliver Webb1, 3–4 Yash Aradhya2Chennai Turbo Riders5 Parth GhorpadeAll Nicole HavrdaAll6 Jon LancasterAll Vishnu Prasad1 Sandeep Kumar2–4Goa Aces 7 Raoul Hyman1–2 Kevin Mirocha3–4 Gabriela JílkováAll8 Amir SayedAll Sohil ShahAllHyderabad Blackbirds9 Neel Jani1–3 Tom Canning4 Akhil RabindraAll10 Lola LovinfosseAll Anindith ReddyAllSpeed Demons Delhi 11 Akash GowdaAll Shahan Ali MohsinAll 12 Mitchell GilbertAll Célia MartinAllSource:

Calendar and results As the series was planned to be run alongside the two FIA-certified Indian junior series, its calendar followed the two series, so it was originally planned to consist of five rounds in February 2022, before being moved to November and December. When the two other series were cancelled, the IRL calendar was revised and then included four rounds at two circuits, as well as a pre-season test to be held on November 14 at Madras Motor Race Track.

RoundCircuitDate Pole position Fastest lap Winning driver/s Winning team 1R1 Hyderabad Street Circuit, Hyderabad20 November Event cancelled after practice on safety groundsR2R3 2R1 Madras Motor Race Track, Chennai26 November Neel Jani Akhil Rabindra Neel Jani Neel JaniHyderabad BlackbirdsR2 27 November Neel Jani Akhil Rabindra Akhil Rabindra Akhil RabindraHyderabad BlackbirdsR3 Neel Jani Neel Jani Akhil RabindraHyderabad Blackbirds 3R1 Madras Motor Race Track, Chennai3 December Nikhil Bohra Alister Yoong Rishon Rajeev Alister YoongGodspeed KochiR2 4 December Akash Gowda Shahan Ali Mohsin Neel Jani Shahan Ali MohsinSpeed Demons DelhiR3 Rishon Rajeev Neel Jani Akhil RabindraHyderabad Blackbirds 4R1 Hyderabad Street Circuit, Hyderabad 11 December Nikhil Bohra Alister Yoong Sohil Shah Alister YoongGodspeed KochiR2 Nikhil Bohra Alister Yoong Nikhil Bohra Nikhil BohraGodspeed KochiR3 Jon Lancaster Nikhil Bohra Alister YoongGodspeed Kochi

Season summary

The season was plagued by miscommunication, organisational challenges and extreme reliability issues for the cars. Running at the first round in Hyderabad was cancelled following the opening practice session after Vishnu Prasad broke his leg in a crash, but this was not communicated to patrons or the outside world until after the event was scheduled to conclude. The season-opener was also marred by a tree branch falling onto one of the cars and an injury for a marshal.

Action got underway in Round 2 at the Madras International Circuit. Wheel nut failures dominated the sprint races, as Akash Gowda stopped on circuit in the opening race and Raoul Hyman suffered a rollover in Race 2 induced by one whilst running second. Célia Martin also crashed heavily in the second race. Alister Yoong and Jon Lancaster crashed on the opening lap of the feature race, whilst Sohil Shah clashed with Lola Lovinfosse on the last lap in the battle for the last step of the podium. The event was swept by the Hyderabad Blackbirds partnership of Neel Jani and Akhil Rabindra, with Fabienne Wohlwend third in the standings after she and co-driver Ruhaan Alva drove from second-last to second in the feature race.

Round 3 was held in Chennai once again, and Race 1 was curtailed by a sudden storm. Yoong claimed the first win for Godspeed Kochi as Rabindra slid off at the final corner from second. As less than 75% of the race was completed, half-points were awarded. Qualifying for Race 2 was also heavily influenced by changeable weather conditions, with Akash Gowda taking a surprise pole for Speed Demons Delhi on behalf of co-driver Shahan Ali Mohsin. Mohsin took a lights-to-flag win as the bigger names were disadvantaged by the lower starting positions, as demonstrated by Jani who spun out Wohlwend. Bianca Bustamante was demoted from the podium for a jump-start penalty; said penalties also affected Alva and Gabriela Jílková in Race 1. The feature race was dominated by Safety Car mismanagement – Lovinfosse stopped on track in the middle of the pit-stop cycle, with only Rabindra, Mohsin and Lancaster left to complete their mandatory driver changes. Due to the minimum stop time, those three cars came out a lap up on the rest of the field, with no way to communicate this to the rest of the field. The Safety Car was deployed in the closing stages of the race to clean up the issues, but Sandeep Kumar stopped on track from second on the penultimate lap and the race finished under yellow. Bustamante and co-driver Rishon Rajeev took the last podium place, but were again penalised – this time for not meeting the minimum pit-stop time.

The championship concluded in a wet Hyderabad. With the departure of Jani and Lovinfosse falling ill, series leaders Hyderabad Blackbirds were on the back foot – and even more so after nearest rivals Godspeed Kochi completed a front-row lockout of all three races. Oliver Webb and Anshul Gandhi's car was withdrawn from the weekend after a hole was found in the tub, and the other Bangalore Speedsters entry was also withdrawn after Rajeev crashed on the opening lap of Race 1. Yoong dominated the opening race, but Wohlwend retired with mechanical dramas from a comfortable second-place. Martin also retired with gearbox problems, resulting in co-driver Mitchell Gilbert not starting Race 2. Despite a brief engine shutdown for Alva, he finished second to team-mate Nikhil Bohra in Race 2 after Hyderabad's Anindith Reddy was disqualified for receiving outside assistance.

Hyderabad needed to win the final race with Rabindra and Tom Canning (Jani's replacement) to stand a chance of taking the teams' championship but, after three aborted starts due to technical issues with the cars, they were spun at the opening corner by Lancaster. The Chennai Turbo Riders car of Lancaster and Kumar then jumped the Kochi cars in the stop cycle and won the race, but were later demoted to fourth for the opening-lap contact. Yoong and Bohra inherited the win, but despite Wohlwend and Alva receiving a penalty for making their pit-stop outside the designated window the Godspeed Kochi team comfortably claimed the title in the final race. The Blackbirds consolation prize was a 1–2 in the drivers' standings for Rabindra and Jani despite confirmation mid-season that a drivers' championship would not be awarded; This was not the only administrative issue, as the point-scoring system supplied by the series did not mathematically align with the final points tally.

Championship standings Three races were held per round – two 20-minute sprint races and a 35-minute feature race. As there were two drivers per car, for Race 1 Driver A qualified and Driver B started and for Race 2 Driver B qualified and Driver A started. The feature race saw the grid determined by combined qualifying times, with both drivers competing by way of a mandatory driver change.

Scoring system Points were awarded to the top ten classified finishers as follows: Race Position  1st   2nd   3rd   4th   5th   6th   7th   8th   9th   10th  Pole Sprint races 25 18 15 12 10 8 6 4 2 1 1 1 Feature race 50 36 30 24 20 16 12 8 4 2 1 1

Drivers' standings DriverHYD1CHE1CHE2HYD2Points1 Akhil RabindraCCC P11515Ret1432 Neel JaniCCC1 P1611373 Alister Yoong2Ret141P1131.54 Nikhil BohraCCCRetRet P34P111185 Ruhaan AlvaCCC4265261066 Fabienne WohlwendCCC2295Ret6927 Amir SayedCCC63536Ret868 Sohil ShahCCCRet3Ret33Ret769 Jon LancasterCCC3Ret2Ret447010 Gabriela JílkováCCCRetDNS77226911 Nicole HavrdaCCC6598656512 Kevin Mirocha117326313 Shahan Ali MohsinCCCRetRet12RetDNS6214 Parth GhorpadeCCCRet5108755515 Akash GowdaCCCRetRet4 P25DNS5416 Anindith ReddyCCC4Ret7RetDNS DSQ34817 Bianca BustamanteCCC5686DNSRet4618 Rishon RajeevCCCRet626RetRet4319 Sandeep Kumar8Ret8Ret743620 Anshul GandhiCCC5410RetDNSDNS34.521 Mitchell GilbertCCC3DNS4RetRetDNS2722 Yash AradhyaRet42423 Lola LovinfosseCCC7Ret3RetWDWD13.5 24 Tom Canning4Ret 12— Célia MartinCCCRetDNSRetRetRetDNS—— Oliver WebbCCCDNSRetDNSDNS—— Raoul HymanCCCRetDNS—— Jordan AlbertCCC—— Vishnu PrasadCCC—DriverHYD1CHE1CHE2HYD2Points

Teams' standings In the feature race, points were awarded to both drivers and were therefore doubled for the entry (e.g. a winning entry will receive 50+50 points) in addition to any extra points for pole position or fastest lap, which were only awarded to one driver. TeamNo.HYD1CHE1CHE2HYD2Points1Godspeed Kochi1CCC422695Ret26445.52CCC2RetRet1341112Hyderabad Blackbirds9CCC11156145Ret36710CCC74Ret37RetDNS DSQ33Goa Aces7CCCRetRetDNS71172322948CCCRet63Ret5336Ret4Chennai Turbo Riders5CCC6Ret591086752276CCC83Ret82Ret7445Bangalore Speedsters3CCCRet56286RetDNSRet147.54CCC5Ret410DNSRetDNSDNSDNS6Speed Demons Delhi11CCCRetRetRet4125RetDNS14112CCC3RetDNSRet4RetRetRetDNSTeamNo.HYD1CHE1CHE2HYD2Points

† – Drivers did not finish the race, but were classified having completed 90% of the race distance.

Notes

References

External links