Fabienne Wohlwend crowned 2025-26 Indian Racing League champion

Fabienne Wohlwend has become the first woman to win the Indian Racing League championship title alongside Goa Aces JA Racing's teammate Raoul Hyman, with the duo's win at Goa proving decisive.

Photo credits: Akhil Puthiyedath

Fabienne Wohlwend has been crowned the 2025–26 Indian Racing League champion, following the announcement that the final scheduled round of the season will be postponed and incorporated into the 2026–27 calendar.

Wohlwend, who secured her first victory in India’s premier championship in February at the new Goa Street Circuit, thus becomes the first woman to clinch the title in the series. Sharing the #5 Goa Aces JA Racing entry with Raoul Hyman, the duo amassed 101 points across four race weekends and were 20 points clear of the #24 Kolkata Royal Tigers pairing of Canning and Shah.

Featuring an innovative format since its early seasons, the Indian Racing League requires each team to field an international driver, two local drivers, and a female driver, making it one of the most gender-balanced championships in global motorsport. Wohlwend, 28, has competed in the series since 2022, securing her first podiums with two second-place finishes at Madras International Raceway on her debut.

After an unlucky 2023 campaign affected by technical issues, Wohlwend enjoyed a highly competitive 2024 season following her move to the Rahr Bengal Tigers team. She collected four top-five finishes in five starts and ended the season third in the championship standings.

Teaming up with South African driver Raoul Hyman for the 2025–26 season at Goa Aces JA Racing, Wohlwend began strongly with a second-place finish in the opener at Kari Motor Speedway. She followed this with a seventh-place result at Chennai, while Hyman added valuable points with a fourth-place finish in the second race. Despite a setback with a DNF in the following round, a victory for Hyman brought the team back into contention. Two further wins at Goa proved decisive, with Wohlwend making history in the finale, held with Formula 4 machinery for the occasion.

Wohlwend had already become the second female driver to win an Indian Racing League race, following Sarah Moore’s victory in 2023. She now breaks new ground as the first woman to secure the championship title. Although the title was not decided during a race weekend due to the postponement of the planned Mumbai Street Circuit round, Wohlwend still adds a significant achievement to her already impressive racing résumé.

Photo credits: Akhil Puthiyedath

This marks her second major title, having previously won the 2018 Ferrari Challenge World Finals at Monza, where she became the first woman to do so. In 2019, she was selected for the all-female W Series championship, marking her return to single-seaters after previously competing in Italian Formula 4 in 2016. Over three seasons in W Series, Wohlwend claimed three podium finishes and twice finished sixth in the standings.

Alongside her single-seater career, she has remained active in GT racing. She competed in Ferrari Challenge Europe, finishing vice-champion in 2018 in the Pirelli-AM category and again in 2020–21 in the Pirelli Pro category, collecting ten podiums from 11 starts in that year alone.

Wohlwend has also established herself as a Nordschleife specialist, racing with the all-female Girls-Only team in the Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie since 2022. She has made five starts in the Nürburgring 24 Hours, securing three class podiums.

In 2026, she has balanced a dual programme between the NLS and the Indian Racing League, and can now celebrate a championship title in a series where she has consistently run at the front. The Liechtenstein driver, a six-time nominee for her country’s Sportswoman of the Year award, continues to build an outstanding career.

Other female drivers in the 2025–26 standings include Caitlin Wood, who finished third, Gabriela Jílková in sixth, and Jem Hepworth in eighth.