The 2024 Euro4 Champion, Akshay Bohra, will step up to the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine (FRECA) and the Formula Regional Middle East Championship (FRMEC) in 2025 with R-ace GP.
“I am excited to announce that I will be racing in Formula 3 Regional with R-ace GP in 2025! I look forward to this next step in my racing journey, and the opportunity to compete in the prestigious FRMEC & FRECA championships with such a decorated team is a massive privilege. With R-ace GP’s vast experience & knowledge combined with my drive and hard work, I have complete confidence in our competitiveness for the 2025 campaign. Here’s to another year of having fun, learning, and doing my best!” – Akshay
“I am glad to welcome Akshay to our 2025 FRMEC and FRECA drivers lineup… I believe Akshay will be a great asset to R-ace GP’s high expectations.” – Thibaut de Mérindol, Team Principal of R-ace GP added.
Impressive season with US Racing in the Formula 4 Italian Championship, with a race win, eight podiums, and four pole positions. Akshay was quick enough to secure his first podium of the season in the first race at the Misano World Circuit. However, he had to wait until Round 5 at Circuit Paul Ricard to achieve his first race win, where he brilliantly controlled the race from start to finish.
Akshay also raced in the Euro4 Championship, taking 2 race wins and 4 podiums. In the final race of the season, He beat Freddie Slater to clinched the championship and become the first Indian to win the series and just the second-ever champion since the series started in 2023.
The Indian-driver will graduate to the Formula Regional series in 2025, taking part in both the European and Middle East editions with R-ace GP team. R-ace GP has a wealth of experience racing in the junior formula. The team had some successful drivers racing for them such as Oscar Piastri, Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon, Nyck De Vries and more.
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SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE - SEPTEMBER 21: Second placed qualifier Max Verstappen of the Netherlands and Oracle Red Bull Racing attends the press conference after qualifying ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Singapore at Marina Bay Street Circuit on September 21, 2024 in Singapore, Singapore. (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images) // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool // SI202409210447 // Usage for editorial use only //
The three-time world champion, Max Verstappen was ordered ‘community service’ yesterday by the FIA Stewards for ‘swearing’ in the Thursday Press Conference. Max was asked about the pace that Red Bull has during the Azerbaijan GP weekend and he responded with ‘I knew the car was f*****’.
Today after qualifying, Max Verstappen refused to take questions or gave blunt answers in the official FIA ‘Post-Qualifying Press Conference’ and urged the journalist to ‘ask these questions outside of the room.’ Max kept his promise and took questions outside of the Press Conference room.
Verstappen is silent protesting against FIA with short answers at the Post Quali press conference
This move has earned him praises from several journalists that were present in the official Press Conference.
Verstappen made good on his promise to talk to us outside of the room: big group of us followed down the stairs of the paddock building and through the paddock on his way to the TV pen… very surreal! #F1#SingaproeGP
Earlier in the week, Talking Exclusively to Motorsport.com FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem has revealed he is making moves to try to change the tone of the content that is aired to fans.
“I mean, we have to differentiate between our sport – motorsport – and rap music,” Ben Sulayem said. “We’re not rappers, you know. They say the F-word how many times per minute? We are not on that. That’s them and we are [us].”
When the F1 drivers were asked about the comment made by Ben Sulayem, Most of the drivers made the disagreement clear that stated that they are unhappy with the stance being taken by the FIA. Lando Norris has warned that F1 will lose the ‘rawness’ if the FIA clamps down on swearing. The seven-time champion, Lewis Hamilton went as far as to accuse the FIA president to have used words of ‘stereotypical’ and ‘racial element’.
“I don’t like how he expressed it. Saying that rappers is very stereotypical and if you think about it, most rappers are black and that really kind of points it towards, when it says: ‘We are not like them’. So I think those are the wrong choice of words. There is a racial element there.” – Lewis Hamilton
The FIA’s President Mohammed Ben Sulayem stance is being ridiculed by not just the Drivers, but also the media and the fans around the world. Although Ben Sulayem has said that the current measures are being taken to combat online abuse, The FIA should find an alternate approach to do the same.
The 2024 Indian Racing Festival season kicks off later this month, Let us look at some of the tracks that will be visited by the championship. The Indian Racing Festival is the bigger umbrella under which the Indian Racing League and Formula 4 Indian Championship are hosted.
Pre-Season Testing & Round 1 – Madras International Circuit
The Madras International Circuit (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 inaugurated in 1990. It was the first permanent racing circuit in India and is owned by the Madras Motor Sports Club.
Circuit details:
Location – Irungattukottai, Chennai Circuit Opened – 1990 FIA Grade – Grade 2 Circuit Layouts – 2
Full Circuit Layout: Length – 3.717 km Turns – 12 Lap record – 1:30.323 (Yuven Sundaramoorthy, Dallara Formulino Pro, 2020, MRF Challenge)
Short Circuit: Length – 2.067 km Turns – 8 Lap record – 0:56.257 (Cooper Webster, Mygale M21-F4, 2023, F4)
Circuit map for the Madras International Circuit
The Madras International Circuit, certified by the FIA and FIM, has a main circuit that is 3.717 km long with 12 turns and 3 straights, the longest being 250m. The club circuit is 2.067 km long with 7 turns. In 2014, the FIA granted the circuit a Grade 2 license.
In 2023, the Madras International Circuit hosted rounds for the All Indian Racing League and Formula 4 Indian Championship. The round at Buddh International Circuit was canceled due to scheduling and logistical issues. On the other hand, The season opener at Hyderabad Street circuit was also canceled because of the Election Code of Conduct during the state elections.
The final round at the newly announced Chennai Formula Racing Circuit was rescheduled due to Cyclone Michaung, which unexpectedly hit the city hard. As a result, the round was moved to the Madras International Circuit.
Round 2 – Chennai Formula Racing Circuit
Chennai Formula Racing Circuit(CFRC) is a 3.5Km street circuit around the Island Grounds in Chennai, which will host the Indian Racing League and Formula 4 Indian Championship races. The CFRC is set to be a night race, which be be the first-ever night race in India. The circuit was supposed to host its inaugural race in 2023, however the race was cancelled due toCyclone Michaung.
Circuit details:
Location – Island Grounds, Chennai Circuit Type – Street Circuit FIA Grade – N/A Circuit Layouts – 1
Full Circuit Layout: Length – 3.500 km Turns – 19 Lap record – N/A
Round 3 – Kari Motor Speedway
The Kari Motor Speedway is a 2.100 km long track located in Chettipalayam, Coimbatore, named after the late Sundaram Karivardhan Naidu, a legendary Formula racing driver and a designer. B. Vijay Kumar, a former racer bought the land in 2002 to build a track which was inaugurated in 2003. Part of the existing track was used as a runway for power gliders as a part of an ultralight aviation manufacturing company. The stretch was also used in the late 1990s for drag racing events.
Circuit details:
Location – Chettipalayam, Coimbatore Circuit Opened – 2003 FIA Grade – N/A Circuit Layouts – 2
Full Circuit Layout: Length – 2.100 km Turns – 15 Lap record – N/A
Speed Demons Delhi, the team participating in Indian Racing League and Formula 4 India has announced the arrival of actor Arjun Kapoor as their new team owner under a multi-year agreement.
Ever since I was a young kid I’ve always been interested in cars and motorsports, and Delhi’s love for racing is clear. The Indian Racing Festival, along with our Delhi team, is a great opportunity for young racers and fans. I believe we can discover and support talent that could represent India internationally, making motorsports more popular here.
Arjun Kapoor, owner of the Delhi team at the Indian Racing Festival, shared his excitement
With Arjun Kapoor’s presence the Speed Demons Delhi franchise in the Indian Racing Festival is poised to make a significant impact. Arjun Kapoor’s personal passion for motorsports not only aligns perfectly with our objective but also serves as a powerful catalyst to enhance it. His involvement will authentically resonate with enthusiasts, bringing a fresh wave of excitement and engagement to the sport and helping us captivate and inspire a growing community of motorsport aficionados nationwide,”
remarked Akhilesh Reddy, Chairman and Managing Director of RPPL
For starters, Indian Racing League(IRL) and Formula 4 India championships are organized by ‘Racing Promotions Pvt Limited(RPPL)’ under a combined event called the ‘Indian Racing Festival’. This year, season kick starts with the Pre-Season testing on the 21st and 22nd of August, while Round 1 commences at the Madras International Circuit on the 24th of August.
The Team – Speed Demons Delhi
Speed Demons Delhi was part of the Indian Racing League since the beginning the league in 2022. They have also took part in the inaugural Formula 4 Indian Championship last year. The teams performance was very underwhelming in both their campaigns as they finished last in the teams’ championship.
2022 🆚 2023 Team Standings
Last season we saw some big changes in the order and points tallies of our teams as compared to the previous year.
— Indian Racing League Official (@Irlofficial1) June 19, 2024
However, in 2023 Bangalore Speedsters proved that a lot can change from one season to the other after they have won the Teams’ championship in 2023, a remarkable work done by the team who finished 5th in the previous year.
Speed Demons Delhi is still yet to announce their driver line-up for the 2024 season, it is expected that an announcement will be made in the due course.
The Indian Formula 2 driver joined the Alpine Junior Academy last October and is mentored by the two-time Formula 1 world champion Mika Hakkinen.
Kush Maini on Wednesday took part in a young driver test with Alpine at the Red Bull Ring in Austria. He drove the Alpine A522 in the Styrian hills making it his first time driving a Formula 1 car. According to Viaplay Sport journalist Kunal Shah Maini’s laps ‘were super competitive during the test.’
A dream come true to have had my first ever Formula 1 test with BWT Alpine F1 Team. Massive thank you to the entire team for this incredible opportunity. Can't wait for the next one! @AlpineF1Teampic.twitter.com/MypYPBroLn
Kush Maini completes first test in a Formula 1 car
The Alpine Formula 1 team announced on Monday that they have mutually agreed to part ways with their current F1 driver Esteban Ocon, leaving a seat empty alongside Pierre Gasly. Currently, Alpine’s reserve driver Jack Doohan is reportedly the front-runner to partner with Pierre Gasly in 2025. However, Alpine is also interested in availing the services of Yuki Tsunoda or Valtteri Bottas, was also interested in Ferrari’s outgoing Carlos Sainz.
Can Kush Maini get a shot at the F1 seat?
Kush Maini had a solid start to this 2024 Formula 2 campaign. However, He had his good share of bad luck in the first few weekends of the season. He was disqualified in the Qualifying session in the season opener in Bahrain after qualifying in Pole Position due to a technical infringement, forcing him to start both races from the back of the grid. In round 2 of the Formula 2 championship, He lacked race pace in the Saturday sprint however we saw him take his second career podium in the Feature Race where he finished P2 after inheriting pole position from Oliver Bearman, who stepped up for Carlos Sainz in the Saudi Arabian GP.
Kush Maini took his third career podium in the sprint race but lost out to a Safety Car in the Feature Race after leading the majority of the laps. Coming to the European leg of the season, Maini struggled to even qualify in the top 10 during the Imola GP weekend and the Monaco GP weekend. With nearly a four-week gap in the next F2 weekend in Barcelona, Invicta Racing and Kush Maini have enough time to work on their issues and return to their early season form.
@kmainiofficial on X
Kush Maini’s camp will have a realistic shot at the Formula 1 seat for 2025 if he continues to impress the Alpine management during the Formula 1 tests and also with consistent race finishes in his 2024 Formula 2 campaign. If Jack Doohan is promoted from his current reserve driver role to a full-time role in Alpine, Kush Maini has a good chance of replacing him as the reserve driver of Alpine.
Hiyu Yamakoshi took pole position in the first qualifying session of the Imola weekend ahead of Freddie Slater and Akshay Bohra, becoming the first Japanese driver to do so in the Italian F4 championship. Dion Gowda also showed a strong qualifying pace by setting a time good enough for the second row alongside Akshay Bohra.
Race 1
In the first lap of the race, multiple contacts were made, causing multiple drivers to retire from the race and the Safety car was out. On the safety car restart, Freddie Slater who had dominated round 1 in Misano, jumped from P2 to take the lead, overtaking poleman Yamakoshi. From there, Slater controlled the race until the end ahead of Hiyu Yamakoshi and Akshay. Unfortunately for Freddie Slater, He was excluded from the race which handed the victory to Hiyu Yamakoshi, Akkshay Bohra was promoted to P2, and Dion Gowda was promoted on the final step of the podium. However, Freddie has appealed the decision that excluded him from Race 1.
Credits: ACI Sport
Race 2
The second race of the weekend saw Hiyu Yamakoshi, who started on pole position and successfully converted it into a race win and also took the lead in the championship. Australian driver Jack Beeton, who started from P2, initially held his position but was overtaken by his teammate Akshay Bohra. Bohra secured P2, matching his result from the previous day, until the end. The overtaking maneuver was highly spectacular, with Beeton ending up in the gravel but skillfully managing to stay in the race. However, Beeton, in third place, was targeted by Freddie Slater, who engaged in a fierce battle. A contact between the two at Tosa in the final stages once again shook up the race standings. Dion Gowda ultimately crossed the finish line in third. Gowda, incredibly fast throughout the whole weekend, drove an impeccable race, starting from the seventh spot on the grid to secure his second podium of the season.
Credits: ACI Sport
Qualifying 2
In the second qualifying session, Yamakoshi put on a show by stringing together perfect laps that earned him the remaining two pole positions available. The Japanese driver, with 1’44.831, was the only driver to lap under 1 minute and 45 seconds. Over 3 tenths separated him from P2, Australian Beeton with a gap of 0.346, who will join him on the front row. Third was Akshay Bohra, with a gap of 0.353 (only 7 thousandths from Beeton), in a qualifying session that, apart from Yamakoshi’s exceptional performance, saw all the other drivers vying for positions by mere thousandths. P4 went to Alex Powell with a gap of 0.364, followed by teammate Slater at 0.381. Sixth was US Racing’s Australian Gianmarco Pradel with a gap of 0.436, followed by Gowda at 0.443.
The grid for Race 3 was thus decided by the second-best time set by the drivers over the two sessions. Once again, the advantage was taken once again by Yamakoshi, who lapped at 1’45.125 in the second qualifying session. He will again be joined on the front row by Beeton at 0.077. Starting behind them will be Freddie Slater at 0.094 and Rehm at 0.219. Fifth place went to Nakamura Berta with a gap of 0.236, followed by Powell at 0.237, then Bohra at 0.253. The eighth-best second lap was set by Stolcermanis at 0.262, followed by Francot at 0.314, while Ferreira rounded out the top 10 with 0.349.
Credits: ACI Sport
Race 3
The final race of Round 2 of the Italian F4 Championship had a threat of heavy rain which prompted Race Control to declare it a ‘wet race’ in advance, Thankfully the track was dry come Sunday afternoon. Race 3 saw the return of Freddie Slater on the top step of the podium after the race leader Hiyu Yamakoshi who led for the majority of the race, damaged his front wing in Variante Alta with just 2 laps to go and was shown the ‘Black and orange’, forcing him to pit and drop down to P27. Jack Beeton finished in P2 ahead of Maxim Rehm who took the final spot on the podium. Akshay Bohra finished the race in P5 after finishing twice on the podium in P2 during the weekend, and ended with a haul of 46 points, securing third place in the drivers’ standings. Although Dion Gowda narrowly missed out on a points finish after finishing P11, He was promoted to P10 after the Dutch driver Reno Francot was penalized for his incident with Rashid Al Dhaheri.
Credits: ACI Sport
Championship Standings
Freddie Slater has regained the championship lead after Hiyu Yamakoshi failed to achieve a points finish in the final race of the weekend and now dropped to P2 in the standings. After a consistent Round 1 and a strong Round 2 for Akshay Bohra, he now sits P3 in the standing, 27 points a drift from the leader. Thanks to a strong round 2 weekend for Dion Gowda, He is currently P6 in the championship with 38 points.
Credits: ACI Sport
Up Next:
The Italian F4 Championship will head to Vallelunga Circuit on 14–16 June for Round 3 of the championship
Indian Racing League and Formula 4 Indian championship makes a return to the Madras International Circuit(MIC) in 2024. A very familiar venue for the drivers as they return to the circuit that hosted all the rounds of the 2023 season.
The dates for the rounds of the 2024 Indian Racing Festival were confirmed in the latter part of February, but the locations are still yet to be confirmed. However, recently the organizers have confirmed the series’ return to MIC for pre-season testing and Round 1 through an Instagram story. The season kick starts with the Pre-Season testing on the 21st and 22nd of August, while Round 1 commences on the 24th of August.
✍🏻 Mark your calenders, the Indian Racing Festival returns in 2024 with Pre Season Testing in August 🗓 🙌🏻
The initial calendar of the 2023 season had events planned across 4 different locations – Hyderabad Street Circuit, Buddh International Circuit, Madras International Circuit, and the newly announced Chennai Formula Racing Circuit. Due to unavoidable circumstances, all the rounds of the championship were hosted in MIC.
Initially, Round 2 at the Buddh International Circuit was canceled as the organizers faced scheduling and logistical issues. Later, The season opener that was supposed to be hosted on the Hyderabad Street circuit was canceled with the Election Code of Conduct in place due to the ongoing state elections.
The final round on the newly announced Chennai Formula Racing Circuit was rescheduled because of Cyclone Michaung. However, The cyclone hit the city worse than anyone expected. With the government heavily supporting the event, it was a decision about whether they had to put their resources into cyclone relief or in hosting a street race, hence the round moved to MIC as well.
Fancode on thursday announced that they have acquired the rights to stream Formula 1 races in India for the 2024 season, Which includes the streaming of Formula 2 and Formula 3. For starters, Fancode is an over-the-top streaming platform in India that streams international and Indian sports, famous for their Football broadcasts.
Formula 1 streams on Fancode will be completely basic and will NOT include F1TV features such as Live on-board access, Live telemetry data, Live driver tracker etc, pretty close to the experience of Formula 1 on Disney+ Hotstar a few years ago.
Pricing
Fancode will feature two different passes for Formula 1, An annual pass of Rs.599 which will include all 24 races in the season, An Individual race pass is also available for Rs.49/per race.
Platform
Per Race
Monthly
Annual
F1TV Pro
—
Rs.299
Rs.2499
Fancode
Rs.49
—
Rs.599
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) –
Q: How many screens can I watch concurrently? / Can I watch on multiple screens?
A: Yes, You will be able to watch on 2 screen at a time.
Q: Who will be commentating on Fancode?
A: The Fancode stream will have the Sky Sports commentary (International), that includes David Croft, Martin Brundle, Karun Chandok, and etc.
Q: Does it include F1TV features like Live Driver on-boards?
A: No, Fancode will have the basic stream of Formula 1 session which only includes the main feed. Fancode DOES NOT have F1TV feature.
Q: Will there be ads in between the streams?
A: No, Fancode will not show ads between the Races
Q: Are race replays available?
A: Yes, Fancode has replays and highlights after the session is ended.
Q: Will F1TV Pro still be available in India?
A: Desi Racing Co understands that F1TV Pro and Fancode will co-exist, F1TV will continue to broadcast races in India.
