Pune : Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited (MFRL), in association with Formula 1®, has commenced the nationwide rollout of its Flagship Partner School Programme, bringing professional Formula 1® simulators, structured driver education, and grassroots talent identification into Indian schools.
Marking the first implementation of the initiative, The Bishop’s School, Pune hosted the city’s first Official F1® Sim Racing India Open School Time Trials from 26th to 29th June, becoming the first school in the country to operationalise the programme.
The initiative combines structured training with competitive sim racing through professional Formula 1® simulators, educating students on the technical and strategic foundations of motorsport while introducing them to career opportunities across race engineering, vehicle dynamics, data analytics and simulation engineering. Pune has long been recognised as India’s automotive and engineering powerhouse, making it the natural choice to cultivate future motorsport talent across multiple disciplines.
The Time Trials witnessed enthusiastic participation, attracting 881 students, including 528 Junior and 353 Senior participants over three rounds. The competition was closely contested, with the Top 100 leaderboard comprising 52 Junior and 48 Senior drivers. In the Senior category, Rayyan Bakshi set the fastest lap with a time of 1:21.811, while Armaan Khinvasara topped the Junior category with an impressive 1:23.347. Demonstrating the high standard of competition, 40 Junior participants recorded lap times below the 1:30.000 certificate benchmark. The margins at the top were exceptionally narrow, with the Top 3 Senior drivers separated by just 0.056 seconds and the Top 3 Junior drivers by only 0.098 seconds. The leading performers can now move forward within the Official F1® Sim Racing India Open talent pathway starting with the zonal levels. The overall results will also help benchmark student performance as the programme expands to schools across the country.
Speaking on the initiative, Ameet Gadhoke, Managing Director, Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited, said “At Mumbai Falcons we are committed to building a sustainable motorsport ecosystem in India by creating pathways from grassroots karting to international single-seater racing, while nurturing the talent, skills and innovation that underpin the sport. Motorsport is about much more than racing drivers. It creates opportunities across engineering, technology, analytics and many other disciplines. Through this programme, we want students to discover the breadth of this ecosystem early, and there is no better place to begin than Pune, a city with a rich automotive and engineering legacy.”
Siddharth Bhanushali, student at The Bishop’s School and aspiring racing driver, said “Usually, schools in India don’t really focus on motorsport. To see my school actually treating motorsport like any other sport is really exciting. The best part about this setup is that they are not using regular steering wheels. They’re using actual Formula 1® style steering wheels, which makes the experience feel much more authentic and gives you a completely different feeling.”
As India’s first Flagship Partner School under the Official F1® Sim Racing India Open Programme, The Bishop’s School will continue to provide students with access to simulator training, structured competition and future talent identification opportunities, creating a sustainable grassroots pipeline for Indian motorsport. Building on this momentum, the programme will next travel to Vishwashanti Gurukul World School (IB), Pune, where the next round of Time Trials will be held from 1st to 5th July 2026, further expanding the programme’s footprint and identifying the next generation of Indian sim racing talent.
