HYDERABAD: It and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao flagged off the Indian Racing League (IRL) event, the precursor to Formula E, on Saturday. It is the first of two races which are being held before the Formula E World Championship in February 2023 on the newly-laid race track along the NTR Marg in Hyderabad.
As the event wasn’t open to the public, the VIP lounge was mostly filled with crew members and a few spectators. The general public, however, crowded on the Telugu Talli flyover to catch a glimpse of superfast cars whizzing past each other with the picturesque Hussainsagar in the backdrop The 2.37-km-long track is a street-circuit race track built with an investment of Rs 100 crore. Apart from hosting Formula E, the track is also likely to be the venue for a series of events — such as a Formula 4 championship and the Formula regional championship.
“Formula E is a sport equivalent to Formula 3. It is a single-seater motor racing championship where
the drivers compete in single-seater electric cars built by Italian constructor Wolf Racing using Aprilia motors,” said David from the Indian Motorsports Company, Racing Promotions Pvt Ltd (RPPL), which drew 24 prominent foreign and Indian drivers to the IRL.
Track to host more events soon
“This track is India’s first-ever FIA-graded street circuit. I feel excited and privileged to be a part of it,” said Akhil Rabindra, a street-circuit racer representing Hyderabad. The following two rounds of IRL are scheduled in MICChennai on November 25-27 and December 2-4. After that, the final round will be held on December 10– 11 at the Hyderabad race circuit before the Formula E World Championship, scheduled for February 10-11, 2023.