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The 2022 Indian Racing League was a
single seater An open-wheel car is a car with the wheels outside the car's main body, and usually having only one seat. Open-wheel cars contrast with street cars, sports cars, stock cars, and touring cars, which have their wheels below the body or inside fend ...
motor racing An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gene ...
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 The Formula Regional Indian Championship is a planned FIA-certified Indian regional Formula 3 championship organized by Racing Promotions Pvt Ltd. The inaugural season was to be held in 2022 but was later postponed for the foreseeable future. ...
and
F4 Indian Championship F4 Indian Championship is a single-seater motorsport series based in India. The series is run to the FIA's Formula 4 regulations and organized by Racing Promotions Pvt Ltd. The inaugural season was held in 2023. The winner of the series earn ...
. These two championships were delayed to 2023, but the Indian Racing League still went ahead.
Akhil Rabindra Akhil Rabindra (born 22 May 1996) is an Indian racing driver. Along with racing on track, Akhil is also associated with the Sean Edwards Foundation, where he is a safety ambassador. Early life and education He is a graduate from the Universi ...
(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 Aprilia is an Italian motorcycle and Scooter (motorcycle), scooter manufacturer in Noale, Italy, founded by Alberto Beggio. History Early days Aprilia, named after the Pre-war automobile, pre-war Lancia Aprilia, was founded after the Seco ...
engine. The teams were based on Indian cities, like they were in the X1 Racing League.


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 The Madras International Circuit (MIC, previously known as Madras Motor Race Track and Irungattukottai Race Track) is a permanent motor racing circuit located in Irungattukottai, Chennai, India. It was built in the late 1980s and was inaugurate ...
.


Season summary

The season was plagued by miscommunication, organisational challenges and extreme reliability issues for the cars. Running at the first round in
Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...
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 The Madras International Circuit (MIC, previously known as Madras Motor Race Track and Irungattukottai Race Track) is a permanent motor racing circuit located in Irungattukottai, Chennai, India. It was built in the late 1980s and was inaugurate ...
. Wheel nut failures dominated the sprint races, as Akash Gowda stopped on circuit in the opening race and
Raoul Hyman Raoul Joshua Hyman (born 12 May 1996) is a South African racing driver, he has competed in the Super Formula Championship for B-Max Racing. He is the 2022 Formula Regional Americas and 2018 F3 Asian Champion. Career Lower formulae Hyman mad ...
suffered a rollover in Race 2 induced by one whilst running second.
Célia Martin Célia Martin (born 4 October 1991) is a racing driver from France. She currently competes for the Iron Dames in the Le Mans Cup. Racing career A late starter to motorsport at 27, Martin began her career on the Nürburgring in 2018 having move ...
also crashed heavily in the second race. Alister Yoong and
Jon Lancaster Jon Francis Lancaster (born 10 December 1988 in Leeds) is a British auto racing driver. Career Early life and karting Lancaster was born on 10 December 1988 in Leeds, Yorkshire. He used to watch Formula One from the age of three and always li ...
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 Neel Jani (born 8 December 1983) is a Swiss people, Swiss professional racing driver. He achieved his greatest success winning the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans, 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2016 after first joining Porsche 919 Hybrid, Porsche's Le Mans Pro ...
and
Akhil Rabindra Akhil Rabindra (born 22 May 1996) is an Indian racing driver. Along with racing on track, Akhil is also associated with the Sean Edwards Foundation, where he is a safety ambassador. Early life and education He is a graduate from the Universi ...
, with
Fabienne Wohlwend Fabienne Wohlwend (born 7 November 1997) is a List of female racing drivers, racing driver from Liechtenstein who competed in the W Series (championship), W Series. Biography Formula 4 Wohlwend entered car racing in 2016, having been successful ...
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 Bianca Denise Bustamante (born January 19, 2005) is a Filipino racing driver who competes in the GB3 Championship for Elite Motorsport. She is also the development driver for Kiro Race Co, Cupra Kiro. Junior career W Series From January 31 ...
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 Oliver "Oli" James Webb (born 20 March 1991 in Manchester) is a British auto racing driver. He is a 2004 Karting Champion, 2007 Formula BMW Scholarship winner, 2010 Formula 3 competitor, 2014 European Le Mans series Champion, 2015 Dubai 24 Hou ...
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 Mitchell Gilbert (born 10 May 1995) is a Malaysian-Australian racing driver. He has participated under both nationalities at various points in his career. Career Born in Kuala Lumpur, Gilbert began his racing career in 2002 in karting, wher ...
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 Anindith Reddy is an Indian racing driver. He participated in the 2016 Euro JK 16 Championship and the Euro JK 2017 Championship, and the motorsport person of the year 2017 at the Federation of Motorsports Clubs of India (FMSCI). He won Volksw ...
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:


Drivers' standings


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


Notes


References


External links

* {{Official website, https://www.indianracingleague.com/ Indian Racing League 2022 in motorsport 2022 in Indian motorsport