MultiGP CDRA Season Final to Feature 12 Schools, 50 Pilots Competing Nationally

More than 50 pilots representing 12 universities will converge on Skyway36 Droneport and Technology Innovation Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on April 11 and 12 for the MultiGP Collegiate Drone Racing Association Season Final, the capstone event of the 2025-2026 collegiate season.

Saturday's session runs from 9:00 AM to 8:00 PM, with pilots working through qualifying rounds under MultiGP's time-based lap format to earn bracket seeding. Sunday narrows the field through back-to-back double elimination brackets, first cutting to the next 16 before the top 16 pilots close out the weekend in a direct fight for the national title. Teams earn placements and prize money based on final standing, giving Sunday's elimination rounds genuine institutional weight beyond individual performance.

The CDRA final carries particular significance as a technical showcase. University teams routinely bring custom airframes, onboard telemetry, and proprietary data pipelines built specifically for competition, making the championship a proving ground not just for pilot skill but for engineering programs. The dual-role nature of CDRA competition, where a school's racing results and technical development are both on display, is a key reason sponsor scouts and talent trackers from professional drone racing treat the event as a primary scouting window.

MultiGP will produce a full livestream of the April 12 final round on YouTube, complete with live commentary and multiple camera feeds. For pilots on the bubble of professional pathways, that broadcast reach matters: performances at CDRA finals have become a recognized credential on applications to pro team tryouts and qualify-in routes for MultiGP's national circuit.

The 2025 CDRA championship was hosted at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with schools including USC, Virginia Tech, Missouri University of Science and Technology, and Northeastern among the field. The 2026 edition upgrades the setting to the Skyway Range at Skyway36, a four-droneport facility spanning 114 nautical miles that gives pilots considerably more airspace to work with than a typical campus venue.

With qualifying on Saturday and the bracket finals Sunday, the two-day format compresses an entire season's worth of rankings into a single weekend where position off the gate and clean lap execution are the only things that carry over.