A2RL Sets New International Benchmark with Europe’s First Five-Car Autonomous Race

The Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League (A2RL) completed the first-ever multi-car autonomous race in Europe at the Imola Circuit in Italy on 5 September 2026, as part of ACI Racing Weekend. Kinetiz (UAE) won the League’s inaugural international race, across 12 laps of one of the most technically demanding circuits in world motorsport.

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Organised by ASPIRE, the grand challenges arm of Abu Dhabi’s Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC), A2RL brings together key players across Abu Dhabi’s autonomous mobility ecosystem, with strategic oversight from the Smart and Autonomous Systems Council (SASC). A2RL has evolved from a public testbed for AI under extreme race conditions into a competitive racing series. Imola marked the League’s first international chapter following two seasons at Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, and a step towards its ambition to become the world’s first international championship for fully autonomous race cars.

The race brought together five fully autonomous racecars including race winner Kinetiz (UAE) followed by Constructor Racing (Germany) in second place, PoliMOVE (Italy) taking third, Unimore (Italy) in fourth and 2024 and 2025 champions TUM (Germany) finishing fifth. Each team competed with identical EAV-25 hardware, placing the performance differential in software: perception, planning, control and real-time decision-making.

Two-time consecutive A2RL Champion, TUM saw its winning streak end after encountering a technical issue on the formation lap resulting in the car returning to the pitlane before the rolling race start.

The fastest lap was set by pole-sitter and race leader Unimore at 1 minute 40 seconds before the car encountered a technical issue and came to a dramatic halt. The closely following PoliMOVE who hit the race’s top speed at 252.3 km/h and had raced within a second of the leader in a close battle from the outset, was unable to avoid colliding into the dramatically slowed Unimore car and collided with the rear, bringing the race to an abrupt end for both teams. The incident led Kinetiz to take the lead which they maintained until the checkered flag.

H.E. Faisal al Bannai, Secretary General of the Advanced Technology Research Council, said: “A2RL reflects how Abu Dhabi approaches advanced technology: setting an ambitious challenge, bringing the best minds together and creating the conditions for accelerated progress. Imola put that approach to the test, with five autonomous cars navigating the uncertainty and pressure of a live race. Seeing Kinetiz take the win marks an important moment for the UAE, while the wider value lies in what the race revealed about reliability, resilience and real-time decision-making. These insights will help advance autonomous systems far beyond racing.”

Stephane Timpano, CEO of ASPIRE, said: “Congratulations to team Kinetiz from the UAE on a well-earned victory. Imola raised the level of the challenge, asking autonomous systems to race wheel-to-wheel in a completely different environment and generating valuable data to accelerate the next stage of R&D. What we saw here gives us a new measure of how these systems perform and adapt under pressure.”

A True Test of Autonomous Racecraft

Defined by elevation changes, narrow racing lines, limited run-off and difficult overtaking zones, Imola tested how autonomous systems manage grip, traffic, positioning and overtaking under sustained pressure. The race required the AI to continuously respond to other competitors, deciding when to attack, defend and adapt its planned trajectory as the race developed.

Omar Hanif Alqassim, Team Principle of Kinetiz, said: “It is a very proud moment for all of us at Kinetiz to win A2RL’s first international race and, most importantly, to represent the UAE on an international stage. The team has worked extremely hard for this achievement, and seeing that effort result in a win makes it even more special. It was a great race and very well organised by ASPIRE, who have created a strong platform to showcase what the UAE is building in autonomous technology. We’re proud to bring this victory home and to be part of representing the UAE’s ambition and capabilities on the global stage.”

The Road to Imola

In advance of the race, teams prepared through a condensed physical testing period of just nine days across varying conditions including rain and, at one point, hail. The newly fitted wet-weather kit allowed all five teams to run, collectively completing 38 laps.

To supplement physical testing and give teams the opportunity to enhance their code, A2RL’s Sim Sprint returned this season, using high-fidelity digital twins including Yas Marina, the A2RL Autodrome, Suzuka and Imola to develop and validate their algorithms.

Alessandro Tucci, Executive Director, House of Grand Challenges at ASPIRE, said: “The performance Teams demonstrated during the race is the result of defined development strategy built on more than 5,000 hours of simulation testing and racing in 2025. Racing in Imola was a fundamental step for A2RL evolution and we are proud of the results achieved by the Teams and A2RL organisation Bringing that preparation to a circuit like Imola is how we keep raising the competitive standard of A2RL.”

What’s Next for A2RL

A2RL will return to Yas Marina Circuit for its next race. As the home of A2RL since its launch in 2024, Yas Marina Circuit remains the benchmark venue for the League’s continued evolution.

Lessons from Imola will now feed back into the R&D programme in Abu Dhabi. Testing autonomous systems across circuits with materially different layouts and racing characteristics provides a stronger measure of their ability to adapt, while continuing A2RL’s role as a public testbed for autonomous technology and reinforcing Abu Dhabi’s position as a hub for applied AI and autonomous systems innovation.

The 2026 series is made possible with the support of SteerAI, alongside leading partners AD Ports and du Infra; official partners AWS, Abu Dhabi Mobility and Abu Dhabi Gaming; official supporters HP and Castore; technical partners PACETEQ and Live in Five.

Watch the race here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSdCF_yR3L4

*Source: AETOSWire

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