Former F1 drivers Luizzi, Yoong to be part of X1 Racing league

Former F1 racers Vitantonio Luizzi and Alex Yoong will headline the maiden edition of the X1 Racing league, beginning at the Buddh International Circuit from November 30.

A concept started by Indian racers Armaan Ebrahim and Aditya Patel, the franchise based X1 Racing League will feature six teams.

Each team will have four drivers including an international male, female and one India international and domestic racer each along with two cars, a media release said.

All races will be 30 minutes each and there will be three unique team-based race formats per day.

The league will follow the 'eSports' competition and the inaugural leg will be staged in Greater Noida from November 3-December 1 before it moves to the Madras Motor Race Track in Chennai on December 7-8.

Apart from Luizzi and Yoong, son of legendary Austrian F1 driver Niki Lauda Mathias, China's Frankie Cheng and Englishmen Oliver James Webb and Freddie Hunt, son of former F1 world champion James Hunt, will be competing in the league.

The international female drivers include the English duo of Pippa Mann and Alice Powell, Switzerland's Rahel Frey, Denmark's Michelle Gatting and Christina Neilsen, and Polish racer Gosia Rdest.

While the Chennai team is to be owned by India's first F1 driver Narain Karthikeyan, the Delhi team is owned and backed by the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Tahnoon Bin Saeed Bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan.

The Pune, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad franchises are owned by Ameet Gadhoke (Gadhoke Group), Akhilesh Reddy and Dhaval Gada (Pen India Studios), respectively.

The sixth team ownership has been confirmed and will be announced shortly.