MUMBAI: After the Indian Premier League (IPL) Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan has turned his attention to motorsports.

Along with the Kolkata knight Riders (KKR) partners, the Mehta Group, he has become the Mumbai franchise owners for the all new motorsport racing league i1 Super Series, an initiative by Machdar Motorsports. SRK?s involvement with the i1 Super Series is a boost for the championship that will commence early January 2012.

The i1 Super Series, charted on the city based franchisee format, will have nine teams representing nine different cities from across the country with each team having an Indian and an International driver per car marking a new dimension to Indian Motorsports.

Machdar Motorsports director Anjana Reddy said, "We are absolutely thrilled to welcome the Indian icon and Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan to the i1 Super Series as the franchisee holder for Mumbai. This announcement marks a momentous occasion for motorsports in India with one of the biggest stars in the country aligning with the highly anticipated i1 Super Series. Shah Rukh loved the concept and our vision to establish the i1 Super Series as a landmark in Indian Motorsports. i1 Super Series is going through a very exciting phase, the countdown to our first race has begun and we have lots more exciting news coming up shortly."

Khan is convinced that the series will be one of the biggest sporting events in the country. "The i1 Super Series is a very interesting concept as it gets racing drivers from across the globe to partner with young Indian talent. After the inaugural Indian GP it is clear that motorsports is hugely popular in India and I strongly believe that this series will be a success with its one-of-a-kind concept. I have always tried to develop sports in the country in any way possible and we have recently taken a very professional approach to expanding our interests in various sports entertainment categories. The concept is similar to the IPL and I am confident that in the years to come this can become one of the biggest motorsport events in the world," Khan said.

KKR CEO, MD Venky Mysore added, "This initiative is consistent with the vision of our shareholders to expand our business in the area of sports entertainment."