Woman of pressdog® Pippa Mann confirmed today via Twitter that she will drive in the i1Supercar Series in early 2012. Pippa said the racing won't interfere with any IndyCar efforts and has the added benefit of helping her strengthen and rehab her right hand, which was injured in the final IndyCar race in Las Vegas.
i1 Supercar Series is the an all new motorsport racing league promoted by Machdar Motorsport. The i1 Supercar Series will consist of 10 races with 9 teams representing different Indian cities. The inaugural i1 Supercar Series season will begin in January 2012 and be held in India, UAE, Malaysia, Bahrain and Qatar. The teams will race the Radical Sportscars' SR3 roadster in the sports car racing series. Each team will be represented by two drivers. At least one driver for each team must be a driver of Indian origin. Teams will compete for a $2 million (US) prize.
Pippa will be teamed with 2008 Firestone Indy Lights contestant Cyndie Allemann, who was born in Switzerland and listed as an "Indian International." For more on Cyndie, visit her website here. A news release containing Pippa's comments on the series has been posted here.
News release from http://www.i1superseries.com below:
Jacques Villeneuve, Fisichella, Liuzzi, Chandhok confirmed for Indian-based motorsport league
MachdarMotorsports today officially launched the much anticipated i1 Supercar Series at Yas Marina in Abu Dhabi by unveiling an impressive list of drivers who will participate in the series. 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 F1 race winners Giancarlo Fisichella, Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Jean Alesi. Apart from the international drivers, the Indian drivers include Armaan Ebrahim, Aditya Patel and ParthivaSureswaren. At a dinner hosted by Darshan M, CEO, i1 Super Seriesalso announced the FIA approved calendar for the series with the first race in Sepang, Malaysia on January 22, 2012.
A visibly excited Darshan M, CEO, i1 Super Series said, “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 Allemann. Other drivers confirmed for the series includes former F1 drivers Sakon Yamamoto, Alex Yoong, Red Bull demo driver Neel Janiand former Ferrari and Sauber driver Mika Salo.
i1 Supercar Series Calendar:
| 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 |
International Drivers |
Indian International |
Indian Drivers |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Jacques Villeneuve |
Neel Jani |
Gaurav Dalal |
Good way for Pippa to improve her road racing skills. I wish more drivers (Ed Carpenter, Danica, Marco, ect.) would do this type of thing to try and keep their skills up
Posted by: Dylan | December 20, 2011 at 12:17 PM
A "visibly excited" Darshan?
Eeeew.
But yes, good news. Why is Karun Chandhok in the purely international list though, I wonder?
Posted by: Andy | December 20, 2011 at 02:22 PM
Her Majesty is most pleased.
Posted by: Brian | December 20, 2011 at 06:54 PM
At last it seems like it's happening, but I'm still sceptical. I see they have lost yet another race since their last news announcement.
This series has had so many delays and cancellations at this stage, I (and they) must be hoping to get this first year out of the way.
Should be interesting to see if the Bahrain race goes ahead - all eyes will be on that, internationally at least.
Posted by: Leigh O'Gorman | December 22, 2011 at 08:57 AM
@Andy,
Regarding Karun, it has to do with Chandhok's Grade 1 racing license as opposed to nationality.
Posted by: Leigh O'Gorman | December 22, 2011 at 08:59 AM
Pressdog,
Only discovered you recently, read some of your old notes from Champ Car races, I almost fell over laughing a few times. Who knew racing was so funny?
I think the two end columns are International Experience (hence Chandhok), or Indian origin, with the third and middle column being Indian/International, meaning either/or, they just left out the slash. Teams are required to have at least one driver of Indian origin (of lesser experience) and one International, with the third driver being optional from one category or the other. There's no other sensible explanation for a lot of those drivers being in that category. Also, only two of the three will race on any given weekend, the 3rd will practice and be ready as a replacement if necessary. Since a major purpose of this is likely to give Indian drivers experience and exposure, I wonder how much Pippa and Cyndie are each going to get to drive, if it'll be one or the other and their Indian teammate getting the other car most or all of the time. I hope not. Don't know if Pippa knows this level of detail yet, but you'd be more likely to find out from her than I. She posted volumes the past few days in the forum I'm in to answer some questions and some critics, but I suspect she's ready to lay low and lurk for a while and I don't want to be a pest.
Posted by: Jimmy B | January 28, 2012 at 03:08 AM