Following successful continental finals during the past six months across Europe, Middle East and more recently Africa, at the Zwartkops Raceway in Pretoria, the FIA Rally Star heads to India as the scheduling of the Asian-Pacific Final has been completed. ASNs are now evaluating their local talent in order to nominate their respective finalists via national assessments. These include Slalom and Digital Challenges or a combination of both.

Host of multiple stages during the South India Rally, the next FIA Rally Star Continental Final will be held at the Madras International Circuit located on the South East coast of India from September 2-4.

The Final will decide the next driver who will take part in the FIA Rally Star Training Season in 2023. He will join Estonian Romet Jürgenson, the European Final winner, Abdullah Al Tawqi (Oman), the Middle East Final winner and the latest African winner, Max Smart (South Africa), plus the winners of the upcoming North and South American Finals.

The winner of the Women’s Final will join the FIA Rally Star Training Season as the seventh participant. European joint top female performers Maja Hallén Fellenius (Sweden), Katie Milner (United Kingdom) and Middle East female winner, Farah Zakaria (Jordan) have been recently joined by the best female African Rally Star driver Kristie Ellis (South African) to compete for this exceptional prize. The best-performing female in the Asia-Pacific Final, as well as North and South American will take part in this special event that is due to take place later this year.

Jérôme Roussel, FIA Rally Star project leader, said: “The main objective of the FIA Rally Star project is to search for the rising stars of tomorrow while promoting grass-root motor sport around the globe.

“After thrilling events in Europe, Middle East and Africa, we are very excited to push the Rally Star boundaries to Asia for another Continental Final. We are happy to work in collaboration with the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India and the Madras Motor Sports Club, which hosted the APRC rally earlier this year.

“As several countries aren’t used to car racing, this could be a life-changing experience for the participants as they’ll be able to showcase their skills at the Madras International Circuit.

“We are looking forward to seeing them compete as we hope that multiple drivers will be able to continue in the motorsport environment in the future, thanks to this initiative.”