Kinetiz has claimed victory in the Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League’s first event outside the UAE, winning a five-car autonomous race at Italy’s Imola Circuit and giving A2RL an important test of whether its driverless racing technology can work beyond the familiar surroundings of Yas Marina.
The UAE team completed the 12-lap race on September 5 ahead of Germany’s Constructor Racing, with Italy’s PoliMOVE classified third and Unimore fourth. Two-time A2RL champion TUM finished fifth after a technical problem during the formation lap forced the German team back into the pits before the rolling start.
While Kinetiz took the headline result, the more interesting part of the Imola weekend was how quickly the competitive order unravelled. Pole-sitter Unimore recorded the race’s fastest lap at 1 minute 40 seconds before suffering a technical issue that caused its car to slow dramatically. PoliMOVE, which had reached 252.3 km/h and was running within a second of the leader, could not avoid the stricken car and hit it from behind.
That collision ended both teams’ races and handed Kinetiz the lead, which it retained to the chequered flag. For an autonomous racing series, the incident is arguably as useful as the clean laps. Handling predictable racing lines at speed is one challenge; responding safely when another vehicle suddenly behaves unexpectedly is a much harder problem, and one with obvious relevance beyond motorsport.
All five teams used identical EAV-25 race cars, meaning the main competitive differences came from software controlling perception, planning, vehicle control and real-time decision-making. The platform is derived from the Dallara SF23 and uses a sensor package incorporating GPS, LiDAR, cameras and radar. That common hardware approach effectively turns A2RL into a contest between autonomous driving stacks rather than engineering budgets spent developing fundamentally different cars.
Imola also represented a substantial change of environment. The Italian circuit combines elevation changes, narrow racing lines, limited run-off areas and relatively difficult overtaking opportunities. Teams had only nine days of physical preparation, with testing complicated by rain and even hail. A new wet-weather setup allowed the five cars to complete a combined 38 laps in those conditions.
Much of the development therefore happened virtually. A2RL says teams have used digital twins of circuits including Yas Marina, Suzuka, Imola and its A2RL Autodrome, while more than 5,000 hours of simulation testing and racing were completed during 2025. Simulation is particularly valuable for autonomous racing because teams can expose their software to scenarios repeatedly without consuming tyres, track time or potentially expensive hardware.
The Imola event follows two seasons of A2RL competition at Yas Marina Circuit, including a six-car autonomous Grand Final in 2025. Taking the series internationally gives its technology a more meaningful adaptability test: software optimised around one circuit and environment is considerably less interesting than a system capable of coping with unfamiliar layouts and changing conditions.
A2RL now heads back to Yas Marina for its next race. After Imola, outright speed remains impressive, but reliability and the ability to respond safely when another autonomous car encounters trouble may prove the more important benchmarks.
