The Indian Racing League gears up to launch its third season with a revamped calendar, new tracks, and six teams - featuring a mix of local and international talent. Discover the six female drivers on the grid that will compete in the single-seater Wolf GB08 Thunder cars starting August 24-25 at Madras International Circuit.
Indian Racing League is set to start its third season this upcoming weekend, returning to the track with a new calendar - now spanning from the end of August to mid-November instead of November/December of the previous editions - and new tracks, making the premier Indian motor racing series even more exciting.
The championship, born from the X1 Racing League experiment in 2019, took off in 2022 and has since then established as a very competitive platform for local drivers, paired with international stars, as well as female drivers as the format has put gender equality at the forefront since the beginning, with one female racer required in every team.
Six teams will again return to the 2024 edition: while Rarh Bengal Tigers are set to replace 2022 team champions Godspeed Kochi, the format remains unchanged: each team will line up four drivers in two cars, with two local talents being paired with an international driver and a female driver. All drivers compete in the single seater Wolf GB08 Thunder machine, powered by a 215 hp Aprilia engine.
Three of the six female drivers announced are returning drivers: Gabriela Jílková and Fabienne Wohlwend will return to India for the third consecutive season, and Laura Camps Torras is set to contest her second Indian campaign. On the other hand, three drivers will join the series for the first time: Australians Caitlin Wood and Emily Duggan and Belgian racer Angelique Detavernier.
Hyderabad Blackbirds were the first team to announce the 2024 line up - an unchanged quartet that includes former champion Akhil Rabrindra, Le Mans legend Neel Jani, Anindith Reddy and Spaniard Laura Camps Torras.
Camps, a winner of the Girls On Track - Rising Stars program and former FDA member, has a strong connection already with the Indian Racing League, having made her single seater debut in the series last year. Following several seasons in high-level international karting, Camps in fact contested a testing program in F4 as part of the Ferrari Driver Academy, and then made her racing car debut in IRL thanks to a last minute deal with Hyderabad Blackbirds. With no prior experience of the car and of the Madras International Circuit, Camps scored a top five at debut, and went on to claim another top ten in her third sprint race, after a technical issue took her out of the second round.
Returning to the RPPL-promoted championship will be also Fabienne Wohlwend, who helped Godspeed Kochi to the team's championship in 2022. Wohlwend will represent the new team Rarh Bengal Tigers, teaming up with Nikhil Bohra, Alister Yoong and Ruhaan Alva.
The driver from Liechtenstein has shown impressive speed at the wheel of the Wolf and enjoyed a highly competitive first season, where she collected two second place finishes and a further top-five in 2022. Unfortunately, her second year in the series was marred by technical issues and was unable to finish any of the three sprint races in 2023, despite her speed continued to place her among the front runners. With an unchanged driver pairing, Wohlwend/Alva definitely have the potential to fight for victories and bounce back from the disappointing previous campaign.
Czech racer Gabriela Jílková - a Porsche Formula E development driver and current GT4 Europe podium finisher - will race again under the banner of Goa Aces, partnering Shahan Ali Mohsin, Raoul Hyman and Sohil Shah. Under the new ownership of Bollywood actor and film producer John Abraham, the team has acquired the JA Racing naming, but the ambitions remain the same: Jílková will aim for podium finishes and victories, having missed out on the top step of a podium on a pair of occasions in the previous editions.
A quick and consistent driver in any form of racing, 'Quick Gabi' had two second place finishes under her belt in 2022 at the Hyderabad Street Circuit, as well as a P4 last year.
As the winner of the Matmut Competition female driver initiative, Jílková also competes full time in the super competitive GT4 European Championship, and has experience of single seaters, GT, prototypes and also esports.
Former W Series racer Caitlin Wood is set to join the Indian Racing League for her first season at Bangalore Speedsters, where she will share the garage with Rishon Rajeev, Kyle Kumaran and Julius Dinesen. The Bangalore line-up is the one of the most changed from last year, with only Kumaran retained after the teams' championship winning campaign that also saw Sarah Moore becoming the first female racer to win a race in the series.
An experienced sports car driver and coach, Wood raced in championships such as GT4 Europe, Blancpain GT Series, Lamborghini Super Trofeo before returning to single seaters with the launch of the all-female W Series championship. She scored two top-five finishes, then made her return to GT racing, where she became the first Australian woman to claim a class victory at the Nürburgring Nordschleife in the NLS. In 2024, Wood has competed in the Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain, securing three class podiums in three starts.
Fellow Australian Emily Duggan will make her Indian Racing League debut as well as her return to racing after 2019, where she last raced in the Super3 Series.
Duggan will team up with Sandeep Kumar, Mohamed Ryan and Jon Lancaster at Chennai Turbo Riders.
Duggan became the first female driver to race in the Australian V8 Touring Car Series in 2016; in the same year, she won the Hyundai Series X3 New South Wales Enduro and continued to race in the Hyundai Xcel competitions as well as the Toyota 86 Racing Series Australia before her Super3 Series debut in 2019. The IRL campaign represents her return to competitions in five years as well as her first adventure in single seaters.
Last but not least, Angelique Detavernier will tackle her first IRL returning to Wolf machinery after making her debut in the Italian Sports Prototype Championship in Vallelunga earlier this year - albeit in the new Wolf Raiden GB08 - with a seventh place finish on her first ever outing in the car. In 2023, she had also collected experience in the Thunder GB08 car by competing in the Wolf France series.
Despite often contesting only partial campaigns, the Belgian is however no racecar rookie, as she has previously competed in highly-competitive championships in GT racing, starting from the Trofeo Maserati in 2015, stepping up to GT3 and GT4 series including the 24H Series, Blancpain Endurance Series, GT4 Europe, Intercontinental GT Challenge, Belcar Endurance and, most recently the FFS GT4 Championship, where she secured a podium finish in the AM class piloting an Audi R8 LMS GT4.
Detavernier joins Akash Gowda, Alvaro Parente and Sai Sanjay at Speed Demons Delhi.
With pre-season testing currently underway at Chennai, the 2024 edition of the Indian Racing League is expected to kick off on 24-25 August at Madras International Circuit.
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