"ACE Championship": New electric junior series unveiled at Hyderabad E-Prix

Former Mahindra team boss Dilbagh Gill has unveiled a new all-electric junior racing series at the Hyderabad E-Prix, which is to hold its own races with modified Gen2 chassis from 2024. The aim of the "ACE Championship" is to promote talent in motorsports and thus pave the way for both drivers and engineers to enter other e-racing series. First tests and demo runs conducted the German Nick Heidfeld in January in Barcelona and at the Hyderabad E-Prix.

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The name ACE Championship stands superordinately for the electric junior championship, which is to act as a feeder for Formula E and other electric racing series. However, it is in turn to consist of two subordinate racing series: an "ACE Challenger Series" to train up-and-coming driver:s, and the top series "ACE Championship," which is to serve as a springboard into other championships.

The special thing about this is that the same car is to be used in both series - only the performance level will be adapted for the Challenger series. For example, a team would compete with four drivers, but only has two vehicles. This reduces costs - even for the motorsport novices.

Discover what ACE Championship and ACE Challenger Series are all about from the people driving our new sport forward #ACELevelUp pic.twitter.com/XvaVfO4ufY

- ACE Championship (@acelevelup) February 11, 2023

"With the ACE Championship, we offer talent a pathway into motorsports at a low cost, but with high performance. The foundation of our series is to provide technology, opportunity and a platform for excellence. We want to be bold, different and digital," says founder Gill.

Car based on modified Gen2 chassis

Concrete details about the race cars have not yet been released. A first demo car is based on a modified Gen2 chassis and presumably has similar vehicle data to the Gen2 car. It has already completed some evaluation laps in Barcelona at the end of January as well as demo laps at the Hyderabad E-Prix. Both times, former Mahindra driver Nick Heidfeld was behind the wheel. The German is active as a development driver and consultant for the series. Formula E founder Alejandro Agag sits on the supervisory board.

The series is currently working on designing its own vehicle for the 2024 season. This could also be based on the Gen2 vehicle, even though the chassis takeover deal has not yet been finalized, as 'The Race' reports.

Where the series will hold its races is also still unknown. Gill merely said during the Formula E race in India that "a regional format on regional tracks and across continents" was the goal. That doesn't explicitly include an obvious connection to Formula E, but it doesn't rule it out either. Possibly, the ACE Championship could appear at selected races as a framework series for Formula E.