These two international racers are trying to build an IPL for motorsports in India

• International racers Aditya Patel and Armaan Ebrahim are behind the X1 Racing League.
• With an IPL like format, it will have 8 city based franchises which will feature international male and female racers.
• The X1 Racing League will be investing ₹50 crores per season.

It was in 2011, that the first F1 race made it to India. Eight years later, motor sporting is still a distant dream for many Indian racing enthusiasts. But now international racers Aditya Patel and Armaan Ebrahim want to change that. The duo is bringing an exclusive motor sporting event to India – the X1 Racing League.

Patel and Ebrahim are both former national champions currently racing internationally representing Audi and Lamborghini India.

The X1 Racing League will follow an IPL like format where 8 city based franchises will participate in the races which will feature international and Indian male and female racers. Patel and Ebrahim have both been racing for 15 years now.

“We have been travelling together the last 5 years, looking at different sporting events particularly motor sporting events. We have been looking at how to help the sport grow in India, because we haven’t seen a large number of Indian drivers coming out of the country,” Patel told Business Insider.

The X1 Racing League will be investing ₹50 crores per season on operations, marketing, production and promotions. It is backed by Mohit Burman of Dabur India, Raghunandan, founder, TaxiForSure, Shanti Mohan, CEO, LetsVenture), Anupam Mittal of People Group and others.

Bringing in the 8 city-based franchisees, they hope to garner a following in the country. “It’s a lot of sportainment. Each race will be of 45 minutes duration and there will be 3 races per day, with innovative race formats,” said Ebrahim.

Being the first of its kind in India, they are also claiming to attract brands. “We are commercialising motor sports in India. With city affinities, the reaction has been very welcoming. With e-sports we are tapping the grassroot level and it is taking us to a whole new market altogether,” said Ebrahim.

While the race will be held in November, they are also organising an e-sports league. Considering motor sports is an expensive game, they are bringing in e-sports, which works like a simple video game. “We are taking our racing simulators to colleges and malls in 8 cities. The winner from all 8 cities will be put through a racing program and will be contracted to X1 Racing League,” said Patel.