Raoul Hyman and Sohil Shah, sharing the No. 24 Goa Aces JA Racing car, defended their Entrant Championship at the final race of the season, while also winning the Teams' Championship, with Gabriela Jílková and Shahan Ali Mohsin driving the team's other car.
Teams and drivers
All drivers competed with single-seater Wolf GB08 Thunder cars, fitted with a 215 bhp (160 kW) Aprilia engine.[4]
A new team joined the grid to replace 2022 teams' champions Godspeed Kochi. First announced under the guise of Kolkata Royal Tigers, it was later confirmed to be named Rarh Bengal Tigers.[14][5] Indian actor and producer John Abraham acquired ownership of the Goa Aces team, renaming it to Goa Aces JA Racing.[15]
Driver changes
The Bangalore Speedsters only retained a single driver in Kyle Kumaran as Ashwin Datta, Oliver Webb and Sarah Moore left the series. They were replaced by 2022 Danish F4 champion Julius Dinesen, Porsche Sprint Challenge GB driver Caitlin Wood and series returnee Rishon Rajeev, who had already competed for the team in 2022.[13]
Amir Sayed left the Goa Aces team and was replaced by Shahan Ali Mohsin, who returned to the series after last competing in 2022 with the Speed Demons Delhi team.[10]
The Chennai Turbo Riders replaced the departing Nicole Havrda and Delhi-bound Sai Sanjay with ex-Delhi driver Sandeep Kumar and Emily Duggan, who last competed in 2019 in the Australian Toyota 86 Racing and Super3 series.[12]
Speed Demons Delhi welcomed three new drivers to their team as Sandeep Kumar moved to the Chennai Turbo Riders and Mitchell Gilbert and Chloe Chong left the championship. They were replaced by Álvaro Parente, who had entered the opening event in 2023 with the Hyderabad Blackbirds, Sai Sanjay, who swapped teams with Kumar, and Belgian GT4 driver Angélique Detavernier, who made her series debut.[7]
New entry Rarh Bengal Tigers took on all four drivers of Godspeed Kochi, the team it replaced.[5]
Mid-season
GT driver Tom Canning returned to the championship to sub for Neel Jani, who was absent from rounds 2 and 3 because of his clashing WEC comittments.[9]
Three more driver changes happened for round three: Jaden Pariat subbed for Nikhil Bohra, who prioritized his FRECA campaign, Mira Erda replaced Emily Duggan at Chennai Turbo Riders and Adam Khalid replaced Álvaro Parente at Speed Demons Delhi.[6] Parente and Bohra returned for the final two rounds at Kari Motor Speedway.
Race calendar
The provisional calendar was announced in late February of 2024, albeit without any confirmed venues.[2] The venue of the first three rounds were later confirmed to be the Madras International Circuit in Irungattukottai, the new Chennai Formula Racing Circuit in Chennai and Kari Motor Speedway in Coimbatore.[3][16][17] The second round was then relocated to be also held at Madras, with Kari hosting rounds 4 and 5.[18] All events were held in India and were run in tandem with the F4 Indian Championship. The event format remained unchanged from the 2023 season.[19]
The 2024 Indian Racing League opened at Madras International Circuit with Rarh Bengal Tigers driver Ruhaan Alva on pole position for the first race. He dropped to fifth after going off at the start of the race, handing Chennai Turbo Riders driver Jon Lancaster the lead before he too ran wide and Hyderabad Blackbirds’ Neel Jani claimed first place. He looked set to win the race before retiring with a car issue on the final lap. That saw Lancaster claim the win ahead of Speed Demons Delhi’s Álvaro Parente and pole sitter Alva. Race two saw Rarh Bengal Tigers’ Alister Yoong lead Hyderabad Blackbirds’ Akhil Rabindra and Goa Aces JA Racing’s Gabriela Jílková to an unchallenged lights-to-flag win.[20][21]
Round two saw the debut of the Chennai Formula Racing Circuit. After significant delays due to circuit modifications mandated by the FIA, Jílková qualified on pole position for the first race. Goa Aces JA Racing’s Raoul Hyman took the lead, before the race was interrupted by a dog entering the track. Hyman held his lead at the restart to win the race, while Yoong took third. Parente took pole position for the second race and led every lap despite continuous pressure from Goa Aces JA Racing’s Sohil Shah. Parente took the win by 0.9 seconds as Alva claimed third. That result saw the Rarh Bengal Tigers, who had finished on the podium at every race up to that point, cement their championship lead.[22][23]
The series returned to Madras International Circuit for its third round, and Alva once again claimed pole position in his group. Yoong started second but dropped to fourth at the start, behind Lancaster and Jílková. Alva looked set to win until he suffered a technical issue on the final lap and dropped to third, handing Lancaster the win and Jílková second place. Chennai Turbo Riders driver Mohamed Ryan took pole position for the second race. He led Shah all race and took a comfortable lights-to-flag victory. Bangalore Speedsters driver Rishon Rajeev held off Jaden Pariat, who subbed for Nikhil Bohra at the Rarh Bengal Tigers, for third place. Still, the Tigers continued to lead the championship.[24]
The Indian Racing League debuted at Kari Motor Speedway for round four. Jani claimed pole position for the first race and built a gap of five seconds, before he was hit by gearbox issues. Lancaster closed up and passed him, before Jani got on top of his issues and attacked back. Lancaster was able to hold on to the lead and claim the victory, with Shah finishing in third. The second day of competition was dominated by Hyman, who took pole position, led every lap, claimed the fastest lap and won the race. Alva claimed second, while Parente was handed third when Jílková struggled with a car issue. Round four saw the Goa Aces close up to the Rarh Bengal Tigers in the championship.[25][26]
The final round, also held at Kari Motor Speedway, began with a pole position for Shah. He followed that up with a lights-to-flag victory ahead of Jani and Parente. Shah also took the fastest lap for the maximum points, allowing his Goa Aces team to claim the lead of the Teams’ Championship by two points heading into the final race. That race was started by Hyman on pole position before Alva collided with Speed Demons Delhi driver Akash Gowda. The Goa Aces pair of Hyman and Jílková flew in formation afterwards to secure a 1-2 finish ahead of Bangalore Speedsters' Julius Dinesen. With that, they claimed both the Teams’ Championship and the Entrant Championship for Hyman's and Shah's No. 24.[27]
Championship standings
Scoring system
Points were awarded to the top ten classified finishers as follows:
Race Position
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
9th
10th
Pole
FL
Points
25
18
15
12
10
8
6
4
2
1
1
1
Drivers sharing a car added the points they earned in their respective races to a shared total.
