Even as there is a renewed push to bring Formula One back to India, FMSCI president Arindam Ghosh said the federation is also pursuing opportunities to bring the World Rally Championship (WRC) to the country.

“F1 won’t happen before 2029, but I am pushing for WRC before that. You don’t need huge infrastructure for that. What we need is road sanitisation and government administration support. The government is supportive of it,” said Arindam on the sidelines of the launch of the Chennai Turbo Riders-JK Tyre FMSCI Indian National Car Racing Championship 2026 here on Wednesday.

“I won’t be shocked if, instead of BIC, we are having a street circuit as we don’t have a maintenance issue right through the year,” he added.

The logo of the new National championship was launched by A. Srinath, Minister of Fisheries & Fisherman Welfare, Govt. of TN.

“I would like to express my gratitude to CTR and JK Tyre for their support and commitment to promoting motorsport in the country, and creating a road safety awareness,” said Srinath.

Akbar Ebrahim, Member, FIA World Motor Sport Council and President, FIA International Karting Commission, said: “Indian motorsport is being keenly viewed and watched by the FIA as it is a very important country at the global level.”

The first two rounds of the four-round season will be held at the Kari Motor Speedway in Coimbatore (Sept. 11-13 and Oct. 23-25).

The third round will be run at BREN Raceway in Bengaluru (Nov. 13-15) while the final round will be at the Madras International Circuit (Dec. 11-13).

There will be seven categories in the National championship: Indian Super Touring Cars, Indian Touring Cars, Indian Junior Touring Cars, Super Stock, Levitas Cup, Formula LGB F4 and Formula 1300.

The third round of the RA Motorsports-promoted IAME Series India karting will be held at the Madras International Karting Arena (MIKA) from Saturday.

The grassroots programme has attracted 34 entries for the double header which will be organised by the Madras Motor Sports Club. The previous two rounds were held in Coimbatore’s CoASTT circuit. Among the most consistent performers is young Shiv Neel (NIKRA with Momentum) from Coimbatore, the son of India’s first Formula One driver Narain Karthikeyan and leader in the Mini class with 90 points.

Kumaraburam’s Aarthrun Prabhu (Kartkrew Motorsports), a gold medallist at last year’s FIA Asia-Pacific Championships in Sri Lanka, has a six-point advantage in the under-10 category. Chennai’s talented Rehan Khan Rasheed of Momentum Motorsports is another youngster to keep an eye on. He leads the Junior class with 97 points after a string of dominating performances in the last two rounds.

It is a season of hope for the country’s top two drivers, Gaurav Gill and Karna Kadur, as the duo go head-to-head in the 49th South India Rally, which commences here on Friday at the Madras International Circuit.

The event, organised by the Madras Motor Sports Club and which has attracted 35 entries including six female competitors, doubles up as the second round of the FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship and the opening round of the FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship.

The entry lists contain two husband-and-wife teams from abroad. Spain’s Edgar Vigo Lopez and Fatima Ameneiro Teijeiro have entered for the APRC, while the Singapore tandem of Raghuvaran Veerappan and Amanda Chew is competing in both APRC and INRC.

Gill, a five-time National champion, will have the experienced Srikanth Gowda as his co-driver, while Kadur teams up with veteran Kumar Ramaswamy representing Arka Motorsports. Both will be piloting the Volkswagen Polo, and have also entered the APRC.

Incidentally, Gill has confirmed for three APRC rounds, two (Indonesia and China) of which will be in a WRC 2-spec Skoda Fabia, while Kadur has not entered the championship, but is doing a one-off round here.

The three-day itinerary starts with a ceremonial flag-off on Friday afternoon, followed by two loops of the 1.45 kms long Super Special Stage. The action shifts to the Special Stages over the following two days while the Rally concludes on Sunday afternoon. In all, the competitors will negotiate 129.32 kms of competitive Special Stages.