The National Racing Championship driver list includes last year’s champion Karthik Tharani, who will be looking to defend his title from Goutham Parekh and two-time Indian Touring Car champion Arjun Narendran.

2015 Volkswagen Vento Cup winner Anindith Reddy steps up to single-seaters this year and will be joined by the female racing duo of Neha Dabas and Ria Dabas, who makes their formula car debut.

Lee Keshav, a F1600 race winner, returns to racing following a year-long sabbatical. Among other names, actor/racer Jai Sampath and last year’s top rookie Tejas Ram and Anshul Shah also features in the list.

Earlier this month, the Madras Motor Sport Club [MMSC], handed scholarship to eight drivers to participate in this year's championship at a discounted price.

While Nissan GT Academy finalists Akshay Gupta and Abhinay Bikkani got through the scholarship, the entry list doesn't feature their names.

Bikkani had also tested the F1600 car along with eight other drivers at the pre-season testing at Kari Motor Speedway on January 12-13 of this month.

F1600 will act as a support event to the final round of 2015/16 MRF Challenge as the winners of this year's title eye the Mazda Road to Indy shootout shot and a full season of the F2000 championship.