Which racing series is the most competitive? 105 series ranked by who is in the field
A ranking of 105 racing series by the median rating of every driver who has raced in them since 2024. Formula 1 is first by more than 900 points. What else ranks high, what ranks low, and what a ranking like this cannot tell you.
There is no official answer to which racing series is hardest. The fairest measure available is who you are racing against, so this ranks every series in the index by the median rating of the drivers who have started a race in it since the beginning of 2024.
105 series have at least 20 such drivers. Formula 1 is first, by more than 900 points.
The top 20
| Rank | Series | Median rating | Drivers |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Formula 1 | 6,954 | 28 |
| 2 | Formula E | 6,049 | 32 |
| 3 | NASCAR Cup Series | 6,000 | 74 |
| 4 | IndyCar | 5,912 | 50 |
| 5 | Formula 2 | 5,661 | 48 |
| 6 | Super Formula | 5,614 | 41 |
| 7 | DTM | 5,189 | 34 |
| 8 | WEC | 5,070 | 298 |
| 9 | Formula 3 | 5,007 | 73 |
| 10 | IMSA WeatherTech | 4,951 | 380 |
| 11 | Stock Car Pro Series | 4,880 | 49 |
| 12 | Supercars | 4,835 | 64 |
| 13 | NASCAR Xfinity | 4,820 | 161 |
| 14 | Super GT | 4,733 | 135 |
| 15 | NASCAR Truck | 4,686 | 180 |
| 16 | European Le Mans Series | 4,512 | 270 |
| 17 | GT World Challenge Europe | 4,404 | 493 |
| 18 | Bathurst 12 Hour | 4,396 | 173 |
| 19 | Asian Le Mans Series | 4,351 | 334 |
| 20 | Porsche Supercup | 4,335 | 78 |
Where some other series land
| Rank | Series | Median rating |
|---|---|---|
| 24 | GT World Challenge America | 4,177 |
| 36 | IMSA Pilot Challenge | 3,664 |
| 45 | Porsche Carrera Cup NA | 3,458 |
| 64 | Trans-Am | 2,949 |
| 75 | Zenith Racing Series | 2,646 |
| 78 | Mustang Challenge | 2,598 |
| 83 | World Racing League | 2,206 |
| 99 | NASA | 1,334 |
| 101 | SCCA Regionals | 1,181 |
The bottom five are SCCA Regionals, SVRA, Sports 2000 North America, the Veterans Race of Remembrance and the Velocity Invitational. All of them are club, vintage or invitational racing.
What stands out
Formula 1 is alone at the top. Its median is 6,954. Nothing else reaches 6,100.
Formula E is second. At least 20 of its 32 drivers since 2024 have also raced in Formula 1 or Formula 2, and six have Formula 1 starts. Most of the grid came up the same ladder as Formula 1.
NASCAR Cup is third, narrowly ahead of IndyCar.
The junior single-seater series rank high. Formula 2 is fifth and Formula 3 is ninth, above most professional sportscar championships. Part of the reason is in how this is calculated, covered below.
Multi-class championships sit lower than their top class. WEC's median of 5,070 covers 298 drivers across all of its classes. Hypercar on its own has a median of 5,641, which would put it between Formula 2 and Super Formula. The same effect applies to IMSA WeatherTech, where GTP alone has a median of 5,469 and the whole championship 4,951.
What this ranking cannot tell you
It uses each driver's current rating. That rating includes results from after they left a series. A junior series gets credit for what its drivers went on to do, which is one reason Formula 2 and Formula 3 rank as high as they do.
Multi-class series blend their classes, as the WEC figures above show.
The Bathurst 12 Hour is one race a year, not a season.
It measures drivers. It says nothing about the cars, budgets, circuits or how hard a series is to win.
The 20-driver floor is a choice. Lower it and a few small invitational events join the list. Raise it to 40 and Formula 1 and Formula E drop out, because their grids are small.
Median current Racer Rating of every driver who started at least one race in each series between January 2024 and September 2026. How the rating works across series is covered in why comparing drivers across series is hard.