Indian Racing League 2024: All you need to know about race format, points system, championships
The Indian Racing League (IRL) 2024 will begin its third season at the Madras International Circuit (MIC) which will be hosting the first of five rounds from August 24-25.
The IRL is one of two events — alongisde the Formula 4 Indian Championship (F4IC) — under the Indian Racing Festival (IRF) banner.
Six teams will participate over five rounds with each team running two cars in a race. Two drivers will share one car and will be categorised as Driver A and Driver B.
Here’s all you need to do know about the IRL race format, points system and championship titles:
FORMAT
Day 1: Driver A
- Practice – 20 minutes
- Qualifying – 10 mins (3 laps – 1 Out lap, 1 Flying Lap and 1 In Lap)
- Race – 25 mins + 1 lap
Day 2: Driver B
- Practice – 20 minutes
- Qualifying – 10 mins (3 laps – 1 Out lap, 1 Flying Lap and 1 In Lap)
- Race – 25 mins + 1 lap
Race 1 and Race 2 will be sprint races with both races having a rolling start. (A rolling start is when the cars are ordered on the track and are led on for a certain number of laps by the safety car before being given the go signal).
There is no mandatory pitstop.
POINTS SYSTEM
Points will be awarded to teams and drivers as follows:
- P1: 25 points
- P2: 18 points
- P3: 15 points
- P4: 12 points
- P5: 10 points
- P6: 8 points
- P7: 6 points
- P8: 4 points
- P9: 2 points
- P10: 1 point
The driver who was fastest in qualifying will get one point for bagging the pole position, while the driver with the fastest lap in a race will get an additional point.
CHAMPIONSHIP TITLES
IRL has a Car Championship (instead of the Drivers’ Championship) and Teams’ Championship.
Car Championship: Total points scored by Driver A + Driver B.
Teams’ Championship: Total points scored by the four drivers of a team.