“I Want To Make India Strong Player In Motorsports World”

In an exclusive interview, Akhilesh Reddy, Director MEIL and Chairman, RPPL, spoke at length about the inaugural edition of this championship and more. Excerpts: 

What is your larger purpose and goal behind organising Formula 3 and Formula 4 racing league? What is your vision for RPPL? 

The vision of racing promotions and its initiatives in F3 and F4 is to take an all-Indian team to F1 in the next 5-7 years and an all-Indian women team to F2 in the next 10-12 years. 

From a purely commercial standpoint, F3 and F4 add a lot of technical legitimacy to our offerings, including the Indian racing league, given the FIA points that come with them. They will attract the international racing fraternity to India, and subsequently, suppliers to the global auto-racing industry. 

By running not one but two FIA sanctioned championships, the profile of Indian racing will be elevated in the global rankings, and this will attract viewership that will translate to commercial success in the 4-5 year horizon. 

Also, this will be the first time that an FIA sanctioned championship will be organised in India. 

In your view, what will be the big drivers of success for this league? 

I would say the strength of our distribution (broadcast, social media), the profile of the team owners, and quality of sponsors (more non-endemic than the endemic) will be the drivers of success, besides the fundamental factors – high-quality racing, world-class broadcast, and fan engagement. 

Please tell us about the owners of the league. 

The league is wholly owned and operated by Racing Promotions, which is majority-owned by me (Akhilesh Reddy) and Ameet Ghadoke, through our parent businesses. The acquisition of Racing Promotions was completed in September 2021. 

Have you finalised any broadcaster for the league? 

At this stage we are in discussions with all the key broadcasters in India, both TV and OTT, including Star, Sony, Discovery, Voot, Jio, etc. 

What is your marketing strategy for RPPL? 

We have a 360-degree marketing plan, which includes radio, TV, OOH along with extensive on-ground engagement via sim racing and karting.  

We will be conducting sim racing (virtual racing) and karting for two weeks in each of the franchises cities over six months leading up to the league seasons, which will be the longest activation by any sporting league in India. 

What kind of investments have you made in this league so far? 

We have already invested over 150 cr in equipment, cars, licenses from local govt, and permissions/sanctions from the FIA, street circuit infrastructure and a racing track. 

Sports leagues have turned out to provide great value to marketers, what kind of opportunities does your league offer to brands? Why should brands associate with it? 

The following factors are the key USPs of the Indian racing festival –  equal opportunities (men and women drivers), deep fan and grassroots activation (sim racing and karting in every franchise city), multiple venues (travelling around the country), street circuit (a never seen before concept in India, both from a sporting and technical perspective), international racing driver fraternity (F3 and F4 will attract top global talent), celebs (celebrity team owners), and multiple championships (its three championships in one weekend, offering more races and more action on a per day basis). 

 All the above factors give a wide range of brands the right reasons to associate with racing promotions. Women-centric brands can build on the equal opportunities, whereas Made-in-India brands can support the first-of-its-kind street circuit. 

Endemic brands such as tyres, fuel, lubricant companies, etc. will come for the quality of racing and drivers, while FMCG and D2C brands will come for the long activation leading up to the league. 

We have created a package for everyone, and we strongly believe that there is a strong commercial fundamental for all stakeholders to derive ROI from.