MUMBAI: Indian motorsport is reportedly taking a second shot at introducing an IPL-templated event to the country. Nominally titled Xtreme1 Racing League (X1), eight teams will compete in races at both track and street circuits in three cities later this year, Times of India reports.
According to the daily, the duo of 29-year old Indian race drivers based out of Chennai – Armaan Ebrahim and Aditya Patel – are set to officially announce the league.
As in the IPL, corporates will be invited to place bids for ownership of the eight franchises with the investment in teams reported to be around Rs 65-70 million, which would include custom-made cars, drivers and team operations.
Each team in the league would have two four drivers per team, which would include one international male driver, one international female, one Indian international driver and one Indian domestic driver, according to the TOI report.
It was in 2011 that there was last talk of a motorsport league in India – i1 Super Series – wherein nine city-based teams in India were to participate in the racing competition that was to be held in India, UAE, Malaysia, Bahrain and Qatar. For the record, after multiple changes in launch dates, the event failed to get off the ground.
