Racing participation spans far more than the number of cars on a starting grid. Official 2024 FIA figures cover 646 drivers at the FIA Motorsport Games, 1,123 drivers in the International Karting Ranking, and more than 85,000 drivers in FIA F4-branded iRacing series. In the United Kingdom, Motorsport UK reported 70,000 competition licence holders in 2023. These figures describe different populations and should be compared as separate measures, not combined into one global total.
Contents
- Global FIA Motorsport Games participation
- Karting participation and competitive reach
- Esports and sim-racing participation
- Circuit, touring-car, and GT racing
- Drifting, truck, and historic racing
- UK grassroots racing participation
Global FIA Motorsport Games participation
The 2024 FIA Motorsport Games in Valencia, Spain, brought together 82 nations and 646 drivers. Seventeen nations participated in the Games for the first time. The event offered 26 categories, compared with 16 in 2022, showing how the event’s competitive program expanded between editions. These are event-specific participation measures rather than an estimate of all racing activity worldwide. FIA Activity Report 2024
The event also had a substantial operational and spectator footprint. Approximately 43,997 spectators attended, while 7,000 accredited personnel supported the Games. Competition used five venues in and around Valencia. The FIA’s key-facts summary identifies 2024 event figures, while the activity report records completed-event measures; the two sources therefore serve slightly different reporting purposes. FIA Motorsport Games – The key facts and figures
Women accounted for 106 of the 646 drivers, a record for the event. Six female Cross Car Mini drivers also received sponsorship from the FIA Women in Motorsport Commission. The participation count and sponsorship figure measure different things: one is the number of female drivers across the Games, and the other is a specific supported group. FIA Activity Report 2024
| FIA Motorsport Games measure | 2024 figure |
|---|---|
| Nations represented | 82 |
| First-time participating nations | 17 |
| Drivers | 646 |
| Categories | 26 |
| Spectators | Approximately 43,997 |
| Accredited personnel | 7,000 |
| Female drivers | 106 |
The Games also included an Esports F4 competition with 60 participants. Because this is a category within the same event, it should not be added to the overall 646-driver figure without knowing how the event’s reporting definitions treat overlaps. The safest reading is that it is a separately reported participation measure for the Esports F4 category. FIA Motorsport Games – The key facts and figures
Karting participation and competitive reach
Karting was one of the largest participation channels reported in the FIA figures. The 2024 International Karting Ranking included 1,123 drivers, while the 2024 National Karting Ranking included 1,120 drivers. The National Karting Ranking was reported as having grown 221% from the previous year. The 2023 International Karting Ranking listed 1,142 drivers, but that historical comparison should not be treated as a direct year-over-year trend for the National Ranking because the categories and populations differ. FIA Activity Report 2024
The 2024 FIA Karting Championships recorded 927 entries across eight events and included 629 drivers representing six FIA Sport Regions. “Entries” and “drivers” are not interchangeable: entries can refer to participation in events, while drivers identify people represented in the championship reporting. Keeping those definitions separate prevents the figures from being overstated.
Karting contributed 225 drivers to the 2024 FIA Motorsport Games, and the FIA reported that karting drivers accounted for more than 30% of the Games’ 646 participants. The source’s wording is retained here; no new percentage has been calculated. The FIA Karting Academy Trophy added another international development measure, with 51 drivers representing 50 nations in 2024. FIA Activity Report 2024
Together, these figures show several layers of karting participation: ranked drivers, championship entries, regional representation, a national-development trophy, and a contribution to a multi-discipline event. They do not establish a single total number of kart racers, because the same driver could appear in more than one competition or ranking.
Esports and sim-racing participation
FIA esports figures show participation at both event and platform scale. The 2024 FIA Motorsport Games esports competition had 117 drivers entered. Separately, more than 85,000 iRacing drivers had raced in FIA F4-branded series by 2024, and those series accumulated more than 1.7 million race entries. The 85,000-plus figure counts drivers, while the 1.7 million-plus figure counts entries, so they represent different types of activity. FIA Activity Report 2024
The FIA partnership also distributed 2,000 12-month iRacing subscriptions to 82 national sporting authorities, or ASNs, in 2024. The subscriptions were reported as representing more than USD 22 million in value in kind. A separate figure records 29 12-month subscriptions distributed at the beginning of 2024. These subscription figures describe program distribution and should not be read as the number of unique racing participants.
The 2024 FIA F4 Esports Global Championship used four rounds and eight races. Thirty drivers qualified: the Americas, Europe, and Asia regions each supplied 10 qualifiers. Regional qualification therefore made up the full 30-driver final field, but it does not indicate how many drivers entered the qualifying process.
Regional esports events supplied smaller, clearly defined participation snapshots. The first Nordic Esports Championship had 25 on-site drivers in Stockholm across F4 and Rallycross competitions. The 2024 MENA Esports Cup final brought 24 drivers from 12 countries to Amman. In Singapore, 20 people representing nine ASNs attended the first regional FIA esports training session in 2024. These figures distinguish competitors from training participants and on-site drivers, rather than presenting them as one combined audience.
Circuit, touring-car, and GT racing
The 2024 Kumho FIA TCR World Tour calendar contained seven events and included 67 drivers. Those drivers represented 21 nationalities, while 29 teams and eight automotive brands took part. The grid included 12 different TCR models. This combination illustrates how a touring-car series can have a relatively compact driver field while still involving broad national, team, manufacturer, and vehicle-model representation. FIA Activity Report 2024
Two women were among the 67 TCR World Tour drivers. The figure is a count within this specific 2024 championship and should not be generalized to all touring-car racing. Likewise, the 29 teams and eight brands are participation measures for the World Tour, not totals for the wider TCR category.
Other FIA circuit figures describe different grid structures:
- The 2024 FIA Motorsport Games Touring Car Cup featured 13 cars.
- The 2024 FIA GT World Cup entry field included 23 cars from six GT3 manufacturers.
- Nearly 70% of the 2024 FIA GT World Cup grid consisted of Platinum-ranked drivers.
- Ten 2024 FIA GT World Cup drivers also competed in the FIA World Endurance Championship that season, including eight Hypercar drivers.
- GT machinery appeared in three of the 26 competitions at the 2024 FIA Motorsport Games.
Cars, drivers, manufacturers, ranked drivers, and competitions are separate units. For example, 23 GT World Cup cars cannot be treated as 23 unique drivers unless the source explicitly says so. The overlap with the World Endurance Championship is also a cross-series driver count, not an additional grid total. FIA Activity Report 2024
Drifting, truck, and historic racing
The 2024 FIA Motorsport Games Drifting Cup set a record with 33 entries. More than 100,000 viewers watched the event, while the FIA drifting judges e-learning module had 793 enrolled users by the end of 2024. Entries, viewers, and enrolled users describe three different forms of engagement and should remain separate. FIA Activity Report 2024
The FIA European Truck Racing Championship had a seven-round calendar in 2024. The FIA Truck Racing Commission reported 12.1 million followers across all social media channels in 2024. The follower figure is an audience measure across channels, not a count of competitors or event attendees.
Historic competition also generated several defined participation measures. The FIA received 1,149 Historic Technical Passport applications in 2024 and validated 931 applications. Entries to the FIA European Historic Rally Championship increased 40% in 2024. The championship had nine rounds in seven countries and 80 registered competitors, including two gravel rounds. The FIA Historic Hill Climb Championship had seven rounds in five countries and 96 registered competitors. FIA Activity Report 2024
| Historic racing measure | 2024 figure |
|---|---|
| Historic Technical Passport applications received | 1,149 |
| Historic Technical Passport applications validated | 931 |
| European Historic Rally Championship rounds | 9 |
| Countries in European Historic Rally Championship | 7 |
| Registered historic rally competitors | 80 |
| Historic Hill Climb Championship rounds | 7 |
| Countries in Historic Hill Climb Championship | 5 |
| Registered historic hill climb competitors | 96 |
UK grassroots racing participation
Motorsport UK’s 2023 network included 676 motor clubs, which hosted 3,930 events across the United Kingdom. The country had 70,000 competition licence holders in 2023. These figures provide a grassroots view that is structurally different from FIA championship grids: clubs and events support a broad national competition system, while licence holders represent people authorized to compete under the relevant licensing framework. Motorsport in the UK: More affordable and accessible than ever before
Motorsport UK said a UK season of competition could cost less than GBP 1,000 in 2024. It also said the StreetCar entry fee could be around GBP 30 before fuel and expenses. These are published affordability statements, not measured average costs. Actual spending depends on the competition, vehicle, travel, preparation, safety equipment, and other expenses, so the figures should be read as indicative thresholds rather than a complete budget. Motorsport in the UK: More affordable and accessible than ever before
The UK figures also come from a different reporting period than most of the FIA figures in this overview: the network, events, and licence-holder measures refer to 2023, while the affordability statements refer to 2024. The dataset combines official FIA international competition measures with Motorsport UK grassroots measures; the populations and definitions are not interchangeable. FIA activity-report figures cover specific championships, events, entries, drivers, teams, or registered competitors rather than a global total of all racing participants.