The second season of A2RL ended thrillingly at Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, as defending champions TUM completed a historic six-vehicle autonomous race finish.
Seventeen months following the debut event of the series, the second season of the Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League has demonstrated the progress made by the teams and their technology. While the 2024 event showcased a proof of concept, the 2025 finale highlighted how quickly and effectively technology can advance.
The A2RL season concluded with three competitions. A Silver race consisting of time trials had Code-19, FRVIAV, TGM, Fly Eagle, and Rapson racing as fast as they could on the Yas Marina Circuit's North layout. Ultimately, TGM won decisively.
This year brings back the 2024 feature event: Human Vs AI. F1 driver Daniil Kvyat once more faced an A2RL racer—this time from the reigning champions TUM—on the Yas Marina Circuit. In the inaugural year, Kvyat easily outperformed the autonomous vehicle, but this year was expected to be a much tighter competition.
During testing, the TUM car achieved competitive times, indicating a greater challenge for the top driver. The two engaged in an exciting race. Kvyat provided the machine-controlled racer a ten-second advantage, and following two practice laps with the F1 driver maintaining his distance, the competition began.
Kvyat's vehicle effectively narrowed the gap in the initial laps, maintaining a narrow distance behind his rival on the North layout of Yas Marina Circuit, with only 10 laps remaining. The event concluded with the AI finishing just under a second ahead of the human driver — a significant improvement from the series' first race, highlighting the substantial progress made by AI drivers.
The variation between years demonstrates that progress is achievable even in such an intense, real-world setting. The technological gap is narrowing before a live audience, and A2RL isn't hesitant to reveal its processes.
The annual improvement is evident from the results, once again highlighting rapid advancement. Kvyat said: "Looking back at the start of A2RL development a few years ago, when there were perhaps minutes between a human driver and the AI car, down to 10 seconds in our first demonstration last year, and now the difference has significantly shrunk to mere fractions of a second – the progress is incredible. As a tech lover and racer, it's amazing to have been involved in this from the start. Competing against an AI driver on track is completely unique, and it was enjoyable to provide an exciting contest for the fans this evening."
With the enthusiastic crowd properly energized, it was time for the final. It's reasonable to say that the 2024 grand final was somewhat... limited. As the inaugural event, and with technology still in its early stages, the mere fact that it took place was remarkable, but with only one car finishing on its first attempt, the expectations were high for the 2025 event, and it certainly met them.
Unimore, Kinetiz, TII Racing, PoliMOVE, Constructor, and defending champions TUM began with a loud and impressive sound from their Honda-powered engines. The Super Formula SF23-based vehicles delivered an amazing performance. The absence of human drivers brings an additional sense of mystery - each AI is designed uniquely, aiming to be the fastest while avoiding collisions with other cars (or walls). As viewers, we had no idea what to expect - how would they handle each challenge? Similar to soft, flexible humans, they have their own styles and (somewhat) personalities, but since they are relatively new, we weren't sure what to anticipate. Naturally, the AI drivers we met last year have improved significantly.
In the final 20-lap race, TUM took the lead until a bold move by Unimore pushed the champions into second position. The two battled at speeds exceeding 200kph, exciting the spectators in the stands. The distance between the leaders and the rest of the field was quite impressive, making a win for Unimore seem certain. However, at the moment... the backmarker Constructor had a problem in the middle of a corner, stopping abruptly. Unimore's car tried its best to avoid the obstacle but hit it, sliding off the track with front-end damage and retiring from the race. After a full course yellow flag, the race resumed. TUM's lead was overwhelming, and with the exception of an unfortunate spin from Kinetiz, the race concluded with four cars confidently finishing the race.
Following a thrilling and intense race filled with excitement and crashes, TUM easily finished first, securing the 2025 A2RL championship title, along with recognition and a significant portion of the $2.25 million prize fund.
Prof. Dr.- Ing. Markus Lienkamp, TUM Team Principal was open about the events: [1] [2] "In the final race we began from pole position, but we were aware that Unimore was following us. During the last practice session, Unimore became progressively quicker, particularly on cold tires, and we couldn't make much more progress on cold tires because our algorithms aren't designed for that - we preferred to be a bit cautious… I anticipated they would overtake us on lap 2. And that's exactly what happened."
Prof. Dr.- Ing. Lienkamp mentioned that they had anticipated getting closer as the rubber heated up, ultimately aiming to reclaim the first position. This was until the accident occurred. "It was unfortunate for us because we wanted to witness the competition with Unimore until the end," Prof. Dr.- Ing. Lienkamp expressed regretfully.
Unimore had a win taken away, said Marko Bertogna, Head of Unimore Racing: "I was extremely happy with the performance we delivered, we remained very consistent achieving the professional standard we reached... The overtaking maneuver we executed was at a professional level. I'm very pleased with the technical outcome, but less satisfied with the final result."
Eighteen months is a significant period in the tech world, and the contrast between this season and the previous one is evident. No one is more delighted with the advancements than Stephane Timpano, CEO of ASPIRE (organiser of A2RL and part of the UAE government's Advanced Technology Research Council): "What occurred tonight is not just impressive — it's the outcome of tremendous effort by all the teams, along with the technical team at A2RL who have pushed the technology to its limits over the past 18 months. It was wonderful to witness Abu Dhabi's strong involvement, and the public experiencing the emotions seen in professional racing."
As this year's event draws to a close, the teams will return home with additional data, fresh ideas, and increased motivation to make the 2026 season even more exciting and successful than previously. We'll find out how their efforts bear fruit next year.
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