i1 Supercar Series Season One– Drives Profile, Calendar, Sample Car Pictures And Details

Official list of drivers for the first inaugural season of i1 Super Series have been announced by the organizer – Machdar Motorsports at Yas Marina in Abu Dhabi. Drivers in the inaugural i1 Supercar Series will include 1997 Formula One Champion Jacques Villeneuve, 2011 Formula One drivers Vitantonio Liuzzi and Karun Chandhok, and former Formula One race winners Giancarlo Fisichella, Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Jean Alesi. Apart from the international drivers, the Indian drivers include Armaan Ebrahim, Aditya Patel and Parthiva Sureswaren. At a dinner hosted by Darshan M, CEO, i1 Super Series also announced the FIA approved calendar for the series with the first race in Sepang, Malaysia on January 22, 2012.

image – Drivers of the First Ever i1 Super Series

The i1 Super Series CEO, Darshan M Quoted:

“This is a big moment for us as we confirm our drivers and calendar for the inaugural season. As promised we have a fantastic line-up of proven international race winners mixed with young Indian drivers. The drivers will have their first taste of the Radical SR3 tomorrow so we will work closely with them to make the car even better. We are also proud to announce that we will have two women on the grid, who will comprise one team. With the first race being confirmed for January 22 in Malaysia the countdown starts now.”

There will be a driver pool of 27 drivers with 18 drivers being chosen for each race weekend. The drivers for each race weekend will be chosen by the teams themselves. The i1 Supercar Series also announced that there will be a woman line-up on the grid with Indycar driver Pippa Mann and Cyndie. Other drivers confirmed for the series includes former F1 drivers Sakon Yamamoto, Alex Yoong, Red Bull demo driver Neel Jani and former Ferrari and Sauber driver Mika Salo.

i1 Supercar Series Season One Calendar & Venues

January 21/22 – Sepang, Malaysia
February 3/4 – Sakhir, Bahrain
February 10/11 – Losail, Qatar
February 25/26 – BIC, India
March 9/10 – Yas Marina, Abu Dhabi

i1 Supercar Series Sample Car Pictures

image – i1 Supercar Series Sample Car

i1 Supercar Series Season One Drivers List

International Drivers

Jacques Villeneuve
Giancarlo Fisichella
Vitantonio Liuzzi
Karun Chandhok
Jean Alesi
Heinz-Harald Frentzen
Alex Yoong
Sakon Yamamoto
Mika Salo
Pippa Mann

Indian International

Neel Jani
Armaan Ebrahim
Parthiva Sureswaren
Zaamin Jaffer
Mathias Lauda
Aditya Patel
Akhil Khushlani
Phiroze Billmoria
Cyndie Allemann

Indian drivers

Gaurav Dalal
Ashwin Sundar
Vishnu Prasad
Chirag Malhotra
Abdul Ahmed
Raj Bharath
Ameya Walavalkar
Sahil Shealr
Amritajit Ghosh
Sailesh Bolisetti

Driver Profiles of i1 Supercar Series Season One Drivers

Jaques Villeneuve

A Canadian automobile racing driver and musician. He is the son of the late Formula One driver Gilles Villeneuve.
Jacques Villeneuve won the 1995 CART Championship, the 1995 Indianapolis 500 and the 1997 Formula One World Championship, making him only the third driver after Mario Andretti and Emerson Fittipaldi to achieve such a feat.
Outside Formula One, Villeneuve has taken on several new careers: in sportscar racing, racing for Peugeot in the 2007 and 2008 24 Hours of Le Mans, jumping to NASCAR in August 2007 and racing as an invited driver in the Argentinian Top Race V6 series, and in music, so far releasing one album titled Private Paradise.

Giancarlo Fisichella

Like most current Formula One drivers, he began kart racing as a youngster in the Guidonia’s Kart circuit.
In 1992, he competed in the Italian Formula Three Championship, racing for the RC Motorsport team. He finished runner up in 1993, and in 1994 he won the championship, following race victories in Monaco and Macau.
He has driven in Formula One for Minardi, Jordan, Benetton, Sauber, Renault, Force India and Ferrari.
Fisichella won three races in his Formula One career, the first of which was at the chaotic 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix.
He was brought in to the Renault team to replace fellow Italian Jarno Trulli, and won his first race with the team in Australia in 2005.
Fisichella was announced as the number one driver alongside Adrian Sutil for the Force India F1 team for the 2008 season (This is the third stint for Fisichella at the former Jordan team) on January 10, 2008. In the 2008 Monaco Grand Prix he became the 9th driver to join the ‘200’ club for drivers to have competed in at least 200 Grands Prix.

Karun Chandhok

He was the youngest Indian National Racing Champion- He achieved the impossible by not only being on pole position in all the 10 races but setting the fastest lap in every race as well, which is still a national record.
In his first year Karun finished 6th in the British Formula 3 National class with 6 top 3 finishes in the year. He followed it up by finishing an impressive 3rd in the British Formula 3 National class winning 8 races and scoring 19 podium finishes in 24 races with T-Sport.
In 2004, Karun was a regular front runner in the British Formula 3 with T-Sport and was instantly a top 5 qualifier and finisher.
He was the recipient of the Overdrive Magazine’s ‘Motorsport Man of the Year’ in both 2002 and 2004.
Karun was chosen to represent India in the inaugural A1 GP.
Karun also had the distinction of being the captain of Team India at the renowned ‘Dubai 24hr’ Kart race.

Vitantonio Liuzzi

He won the 1993 Italian Karting Championship, and in 1995 took second in the Karting World Championship and placed fifth in the European Championship.
Formula Renault, F3 and F3000 – Finished second in the 2001 German Formula Renault Championship. Finished ninth in German Formula Three Championship. Won the San Marino International F3 race and had test drives for the Coloni Formula 3000 team and Williams. Finished fourth in F3000 racing for Red Bull Racing.
Formula 1 – In the years between 2005 and 2010, Liuzzi raced for Red Bull Racing, Toro Rosso and Force India amassing 26 points in the Championship
Signed for Hispania Racing in 2011 racing at China, Turkey, Spain, Monaco and other destinations.

Heinz Harald Frentzen

2008-Nürburgring 24-hours with own Hybrid Racing Car, Speedcar Series, Team Phoenix, Bahrain Race, LeMans 24-hours, Aston Martin Racing
2009-Speedcar Series
2011-ADAC-GT Masters, Team Callaway

Mika Salo

Raced in the British Formula Three Championship, racing for Alan Docking Racing.
Finished second, only to Mika Hakkinen in Formula 3 during the 1990 season.
During the years between 1994 and 1998, he raced for Lotus, Tyrell and Arrows in Formula 1 placing fifth in the 1997 Monaco Grand Prix despite not stopping for refuelling.
During his Formula One career, he achieved two podiums, and scored a total of 33 championship points.
He made his FIA GT debut in 2004, narrowly losing the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps in a Ferrari 575.After that he entered the last four races of the season in the Maserati winning two races and finishing second once
Finished 2nd in the V8 Supercars Australian Championship Event which was held in Oct 23rd .

Cyndie Allemann

After beginning her career in karting, she moved to cars in 2004 in Formule Renault 2.0 Suisse and finished 6th
The next year she moved to the more highly regarded German championship for the same cars and finished 12th.
In 2006 she moved up to the Formel 3 Cup, finishing in 9th place and winning the pole position at EuroSpeedway Lausitz.
In 2008, Cyndie Allemann signed to race in Firestone Indy Lights Series for American Spirit Racing. She would go on to finish 14th in the final points standings with her best result being a 4th place in the second race at the Mid-Ohio Sports Course in July.
For the 2010 season she teamed up with Natacha Gachnang and race for the Swiss Matech team in a GT1 class Ford GT. Primarily racing in the FIA GT1 World Championship she also raced in the 2010 24 Hours of Le Mans

Alex Yoong

2005-06:A1 Grand Prix, 18 race starts as Team Malaysia seat holder and lead driver, Malaysia 5th overall with 74 points, 1 win and 68 points.
Tested for the Lansvale Smash Repairs Australian V8 Supercar team.
Champ Car World Series, 4 starts, 23rd overall, 4 points in a Dale Coyne Racing Lola B2/00 Cosworth.
Porsche Carrera Cup Asia, 1 start, 1 win in a Porsche 911 GT3.
Bathurst 24 hours, 33rd overall in an SAE Racing BMW 320i with Searle, Gurr and Full.

Pippa Mann

She joined Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing to drive the #30 car in the IZOD IndyCar Series for the New Hampshire, Kentucky and Las Vegas rounds of the 2011 championship.
Mann teamed up with Conquest Racing to make her debut in the IZOD IndyCar Series – as driver of the #36 car in this year’s Indianapolis 500. Mann became the first ever British female to contest the 500-mile race, finishing in an impressive 20th place.
Mann finished the 2010 Firestone Indy Lights championship in fifth position, after a strong year with Sam Schmidt Motorsports in which she secured her first Indy Lights victory and became the first female to win a pole at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Sakon Yamamoto

Yamamoto began his racing career in 1994 at the Suzuka Circuit Racing School (Karting), and worked his way up through the ranks, to become the test/third driver for the Jordan Formula One team for one weekend (Japan) during the 2005 Formula One season.
After signing for Super Aguri in 2006, Yamamoto replaced Montagny in the second team car at the German Grand Prix in Hockenheim
He also set the seventh fastest lap and second fastest middle sector during the 2006 Brazilian Grand Prix.
Over the course of 2007 and 2008 Yamamoto was part of the Spyker F1 team and followingly a test driver for the Renault F1 team.
Yamamoto made his return to the GP2 series halfway through the 2008 season, as the ART Grand Prix team elected to employ him in place of the underperforming Luca Filippi. Finishing 4th in the sprint race at Hungaroring, he scored his first ever points in any racing class outside Japan.
On 17 April 2010 the Hispania Racing team announced that Yamamoto would become the test and reserve driver for the team, and that he would participate in practice sessions over the course of the 2010 season.

Jean Alesi

Alesi drove for Jordan in Formula 3000 winning the championship in 1989
Made his Formula 1 debut at the 1989 French Grand Prix in a Tyrell Cosworth finishing fourth. Came second at the United States Grand Prix as well as the Monaco Grand Prix
Secured pole position and second place at the Italian Grand Prix while driving for Benetton.
Drove in the DTM(German Touring Car Championship) placing 5^th in 2002 and 2003.
Finished fourth in the inaugural season of Speedcar Series . Finished second in the second and last season of the series.
Drove with Fisichella in the Le Mans Series GT2 class in Ferrari’s AF Corse Team having great success
Was hired by Lotus Renault GP as their ambassador for the team and driver for the T125 single-seater project.

Aditya Patel

Winner at Oschersleben with podium finishes at Hockenheim and Nuerburgring.
Became the First Indian to be invited to test drive the Audi R8 GT3 with the highly acclaimed Phoenix racing team.
Also regular columnist for the Autocar India magazine. Member of the Jury for Auto Bild’s prestegious Golden Steering wheel awards in India..
Winner of the JK Tyre National Championship in the Formula Rolon 1600,
Racing for Narain Karthikeyan Racing team.
Winner of the Rotax-Max India Challenge. 3rd in the Rotax-Max Asian Challenge-2006

Neel Jani

Born in Rorschach, Switzerland
Intercontinental Le Mans Series in LMP1 with Rebellion Racing
F1 Red Bull Racing aero tests and roadshows , Le Mans Series Championship LMP1
A1GP Vice World Champion (4 wins)
Formula Lista Junior, Swiss Champion

Armaan Ebrahim

Testing Indy Lights in preparations for the 2012 Indy Lights Championship2010-Podium in Valencia. Top 10 overall in the Formula 2 season
Awarded “Best Racer of the Championship”2008- Participating in the GP2 Asia Series with Team DPR and breached the Top 10 in his 2nd race itself
Placed 2nd overall in the Formula Renault V6 Championship 2007 with an incredible 5 wins, 2 second places and 1 third place.
Drove for A1 Team India in the A1 GP Championship in Beijing, China. -Consistently placed 3rd in the Graduate Cup class of the Formula Renault UK Championship
Became the first Indian and the first Rookie to ever win a Formula BMW Series(Asia) race in the first round at the Sepang F1 circuit, Malaysia- 2nd and 1st in the first round of the Formula BMW Series, Bahrain(Scholarship Class)

Pathiva Sureshwaren

Born in Chennai, he forged a reputation as one of his country’s finest talents after success in a variety of national championships
Secured first victory in the Indian National Championship for saloon cars, before winning eight out of ten races in the Indian National Formula Maruti Series
Made the step up to single seater in 2001 when competed in the British F3 National Class.
Participated in the Barber Dodge Pro Series in the U.S.A
Contested a part season in Formula Renault V6 Asia- scoring two podiums in his first eight races.
Earned a place in the A1 Team India in Eastern Creek, Australia
Raced again for the A1 Team India in 2008 as a stand in for Narain Karthikeyan in Durban, South Africa
Has raced in the Formula 2 series for the last two seasons.

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