Former World Champion Jacques Villeneuve, Tonio Liuzzi and Giancarlo Fisichella have all signed up for the inaugural i1 Super Series in India.
The new series was launched at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday and other notable F1 names include Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Mika Salo, Sakon Yamamoto, Alex Yoong and Neel Jani while Indycar's Pippa Mann is also part of the line-up.
The i1 Super Series consists of 10 races over five weekends with the opener taking place at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia on January 22. That will be followed by races in Bahrain (Feb 4), Qatar (Feb 11), Delhi (Feb 26) and Abu Dhabi (March 10).
Nine city-based franchise teams - Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Pune, Kolkata, Goa - will take part and teams have one international and one Indian driver.
They will be competing $2 million prize money and they will race Radical Sportscars' SR3 roadster, which is designed to touch speeds of 250kmph and accelerate from 0-100km/h in just three seconds.
The i1, which also known as the Indian Racing League, is based on the successful Indian Premier League and is sanctioned by the FIA.
