Team i1 ready to roll!

Machdar Motorsports officially launched the much anticipated i1 Supercar Series at Yas Marina in Abu Dhabi on December 20, 2011 by unveiling an impressive list of drivers who will participate in the series. They will include 1997 Formula One Champion Jacques Villeneuve, 2011 Formula One drivers Vitantonio Liuzzi and Karun Chandhok, and former F1 race winners Giancarlo Fisichella, Heinz-Harald Frentzen & Jean Alesi. The Indian drivers include Armaan Ebrahim, Aditya Patel and Parthiva Sureswaren. At a dinner hosted by CEO Darshan M, i1 Super Series also announced the FIA approved calendar for the series with the first race in Sepang, Malaysia on January 22, 2012. 

A visibly excited Darshan M, CEO, i1 Super Series said, “This is a big moment for us as we confirm our drivers and calendar for the inaugural season. As promised we have a fantastic line-up of proven international race winners mixed with young Indian drivers. The drivers will have their first taste of the Radical SR3 tomorrow, so we will work closely with them to make the car even better. We are also proud to announce that we will have two women on the grid, who will comprise one team.”   

The i1 Supercar Series will consist of 10 races with 9 teams representing different Indian cities. The inaugural season will be held in India, UAE, Malaysia, Bahrain and Qatar. The teams will race the Radical Sportscars' SR3 roadster. Each team will be represented by two drivers. At least one driver for each team must be of Indian origin. The teams will compete for a USD 2 million prize. The team owners announced so far are Shah Rukh Khan along with KKR partners, Juhi Chawla and Jai Mehta (Mumbai); Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri,  Dean, IIPM (Delhi); Nagarjuna & Narendra Chowdary (Hyderabad); K. Raghu Ramakrishna Raju (Chennai) and Arjun Baljee & Rudra Dalmia (Bangalore).

There will be a driver pool of 27 drivers with 18 drivers being chosen for each race weekend by the teams themselves. There will also be a woman line-up on the grid with Indycar driver Pippa Mann and Cyndie. Other drivers confirmed include former F1 drivers Sakon Yamamoto, Alex Yoong, Red Bull demo driver

Neel Jani and former Ferrari and Sauber driver Mika Salo.