The 2025 season of the Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League began on 11 April 2025 in Abu Dhabi. This year marks the first multi-format season of the A2RL, racing both drones and self-driving cars. The venue of choice for the Car Race, set for 15 November 2025, is the Yas Marina Circuit, same as the previous year, while the Drone Race was held at the ADNEC Marina Hall.

Background

Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League The A2RL is an autonomous racing championship based in Abu Dhabi and organized by ASPIRE, part of the Advanced Technology Research Council. It is one of two active autonomous car racing championships, the second being the US-based Indy Autonomous Challenge. However, it was a shame fans were unable to follow the live stream on YouTube as promised. Unlike the IAC, which primarily focuses on time trials and simulated races, the A2RL's car races are closer to a standard grand prix formula race format. Both use Dallara-supplied racecars; the IAC uses the AV-24 chassis derived from Indy NXT's IL-15, while the A2RL chassis is designated EAV-24 and is derived from the SF-23 chassis used in Japanese Super Formula races.

Entrants As of May 2025, the following teams have been confirmed to be part of the A2RL: +2025 A2RL Car Race Entry ListTeam name2024 time trial (qualifying)2024 resultNotes Technical University of MunichP3P12024 Champion PoliMOVEP1DNF2024 Pole-sitter UNIMORE RacingP2DNF2024 Fastest Lap Constructor UniversityP4P2 HUMDA LabP5DNQ Code19 RacingP6DNQ Fly EagleP7DNQ KinetizP8DNQFailed to set a qualifying time in 2024 TGM Grand Prix/SEVRUS JapanN/AN/ARookie team FR4IAV/Aladin InnovationN/AN/ARookie team TII RacingN/AN/ARookie team; partner team

+2025 A2RL Drone Race Entry ListAI Team NameDCL Team NameCyclone LabCyclone Drone RacingStarlingRaiden RacingCode19 RacingSpain Drone TeamFLYBYFly EagleKAISTMRS Fly for FutureCVAR-UPMKinetizCode19 RacingMAVLAB

Drone race

Qualifying Qualifying took place over an unspecified period of time ending in March 2025. 14 teams qualified.

Final podiums +Top 3 Classifications for the 2025 A2RL Drone RacePositionAI Grand ChallengeAI vs Human ChallengeMulti-drone raceAutonomous drag race MAVLAB MAVLAB TII Racing MAVLAB TII Racing Yuki Hashimoto (Raiden)Not disclosedNot disclosed KAIST Platon Cheremnykh (SDT)Not disclosed MRS Fly for Future

Car race

The main event was scheduled for 15 November 2025 at the Yas Marina Circuit.

Pre-season testing Pre-season testing took place in early 2025. According to the organizers, over 300 terabytes of data were gathered and 1640 laps were logged between all teams.

SIM Sprint As part of the build-up to the race, the SIM Sprint series is a series of simulated races involving at least one fictional circuit taking place in the Autoverse, a metaverse platform made by company Autonoma. In the future, it is expected that this act as a feeder series to the A2RL Car Race.

SIM Sprint standings

+SIM Sprint racesRoundCircuitPoleWinnerFastest lap1 Yas MarinaNot disclosed Technical University of Munich Kinetiz2 Original circuitNot disclosed KinetizNot disclosed3 SuzukaNot disclosed Technical University of MunichNot disclosed4 Yas MarinaNot disclosed KinetizNot disclosed +SIM Sprint points systemPositionP1P2P3P4P5P6Points +SIM Sprint points standingsPos.TeamYAS1ORISUZYAS2Points1 Kinetiz782 Technical University of Munich743 UNIMORE Racing574 PoliMOVE485 TII Racing436 Constructor University367 HUMDA Lab8

Qualifying Qualifying took place in October 2025. The top 6 in the 3-kilometer short-course time trials qualified for the main race.

Qualifying report Once the qualifying cars were determined, there were a pair of sprint races to set the grid for the main event. One race was disputed by the top three qualifying teams and determined the pole-sitting car and the other two cars' starting positions, the other was disputed among the teams that scored P4 though P6 in the time trials and determined the remaining grid positions.

Qualifying results +Qualifying time trial resultsPositionCar nameTeamSession 1Session 2Session 3Session 4Lap timeAvg. Speed (kph)Lap timeAvg. Speed (kph)Lap timeAvg. Speed (kph)Lap timeAvg. Speed (kph)P1Gianna UNIMORE Racing2:04.83686.71:14.691144.81:07.590160.11:01.855174.9P2Musa TII Racing1:36.477112.11:09.699155.21:14.182145.81:03.642170.0P3Hailey Technical University of Munich1:37.456111.01:28.979121.61:04.003169.01:04.961166.5P4Eva PoliMOVE1:39.774108.41:14.199146.01:20.016135.21:04.119168.7P5Sparkz Kinetiz2:17.66678.61:36.298112.31:24.130128.61:04.570167.5P6Constructor AI Constructor University1:36.981111.51:29.874120.41:26.535125.01:07.060161.3Qualifying cut-off: 1:07.060 (Constructor AI)P7Sakura TGM Grand Prix/SEVRUS Japan2:08.06884.51:24.495128.01:19.790135.6No time setN/AP8Juliette FR4IAV/Aladin Innovation1:33.272116.0No time setN/ANo time setN/ANo time setN/AP9Maveric AI Code19 Racing1:42.760105.32:49.06864.02:30.50271.9No time setN/AP10R4PSON AI HUMDA Lab/R4PSON2:00.28989.910:58.31016.43:47.65947.58:14.01121.9P11Feiying Fly Eagle4:31.49339.82:28.26772.8No time setN/A8:12.84821.9 +Sprint race resultsRaceGrid Pos.Car nameTeamRace TimeDifference1P1Hailey Technical University of Munich12:34.621N/AP2Gianna UNIMORE Racing12:36.183 +1.562P3Sparkz Kinetiz12:56.106 +1 lap2P4Musa TII Racing13:23.859N/AP5Eva PoliMOVE13:31.392 +7.533P6Constructor AI Constructor University13:48.897 +25.038

Main race

Race report At about 20:30, a humanoid waved the green flag from the back of the grid, signalling the start of safety checks before the formation lap. It was a rolling start.

On Lap 1, just a few corners after crossing the line, Hailey (for team Technical University of Munich, or TUM) and Gianna (for team Unimore) quickly pushed out front, with what the commentators described as “aggressive” from Gianna.

On Lap 2 at Turn 6, Gianna dives up the inside of Hailey to take the lead. Hailey takes evasive action and slows down slightly.

At the end of Lap 6/start of Lap 7, both Gianna and Hailey lap slow-moving Constructor AI (for Constructor University), now 35 seconds behind Eva (team PoliMove). Gianna was slowed down by Constructor AI, causing Hailey to close the gap to Gianna.

On Lap 12, while trying to lap Constructor AI again and simultaneously defend from Hailey, Gianna rear-ended Constructor AI, causing Gianna to run into the barriers at Turn 1 and both cars to retire. This brought out a red flag, followed by a Full Course Yellow.

During the Full Course Yellow, on Lap 13, Turn 5, Sparkz (for team Kinetiz) span, presumably from cold tyre temperatures (a big concern after 2024's race), and dropping from second place down to fourth and last of the remaining cars.

On Lap 15, the green flag was shown, and the race was resumed.

On Lap 20, Hailey took the chequered flag and won the race for team TUM, as they did in 2024. Musa for TII Racing came second, over 47 seconds behind Hailey. Eva for PoliMove finished third.

Final race classification Source: Final positionTime/Ret.No.Car nameTeamStarting gridNotesP120 laps33Hailey Technical University of MunichP1Fastest LapP2 +47.00671Musa TII RacingP4P3 +55.0375Eva PoliMoveP5P4 +1 lap3Sparkz KinetizP3DNFLap 126Gianna UnimoreP2Retired (hit Constructor; then hit barrier) DNFLap 108Constructor AI Constructor UniversityP6Retired (sudden stop; collision damage)

Notes

References