Indian teams at ‘Formula Student’

“Formula Student Germany” took place once again at the Hockenheimring from 11 to 16 August 2026. After months of development, construction and testing, the teams put their self-developed electric vehicles and technical concepts through their paces in the static and dynamic disciplines.

Whether it was engineering design, business plan, acceleration, autocross or endurance: over 80 international student teams from 25 nations presented their self-developed electric racing cars and competed against one another in various static and dynamic disciplines.

Indian teams join

Teams from India were also on the starting grid: ‘Orion Racing India’ (founded in 2006) from the ‘K. J. Somaiya College of Engineering’ in Mumbai and ‘Raftar Formula Racing Electric’ (founded in 2021) from the IIT in Chennai – competing in the highly competitive electric class. The two Indian teams are no strangers to Hockenheim; they have been competing successfully for some time – and have recently completed the technological transition from internal combustion engines to fully electric powertrains.

The ‘Athena’ from ‘Orion’ is the fourth all-electric car designed specifically for endurance racing – whilst the IIT’s ‘RFR26’ focuses particularly on acceleration: from 0 to 100 km/h in just 3.8 seconds! The team had previously also won awards for India’s highest-energy-density battery pack.

For both teams, the qualification process and logistics alone – shipping the highly sensitive lithium-ion battery packs and prototypes from India to Germany – represented a logistical and financial feat, which was achieved through crowdfunding and industry partners. Although they did not secure a place among the frontrunners due to the stringent European safety approvals, they nevertheless demonstrated their status as the technological spearhead of university-based electric mobility in India.

This is because a number of other teams from India – including ‘Kratos Racing Electric’ from Pimpri Chinchwad College of Engineering in Pune, ‘STES Racing’ from Sinhgad College of Engineering in Pune, ‘IITK Motorsports’ from IIT Kanpur, ‘SPCE Racing’ from Sardar Patel College of Engineering in Mumbai, ‘Team Fateh’ from the ‘Thapur Institute of Engineering’, the ‘IIT Bombay Racing Team’ from IIT in Mumbai, ‘Team Defianz Racing Electric’ from the Delhi University of Technology, ‘Team Octane Racing Electric’ from COEP, Indian Institute of Technology, Pune; ‘Veloce Racing Electric’ from the ‘Vishwakarma Institute of Technology’ in Pune; ‘Team Ojas Racing’ from VIT Vellore; and ‘Axlr8r Formula Racing’ from IIT Delhi had previously withdrawn. This is mostly due to logistical or technical reasons, such as battery or electrical inspections, logistical hurdles in transporting prototypes, or customs formalities.

The overall victory in ‘Formula Student Germany 2026’ went to the team from ETH Zurich, ahead of Aachen and Trondheim – KIT won special prizes.

Information and more impressions: https://www.formulastudent.de