I am writing this article to bring awareness about Indian Motorsports. We claim there is a lack of infrastructure or lack of awareness etc. The truth is Motorsports is and always has been an expensive affair so there are very few who pursue it. Aryton Senna came from Brazil and Brazil is bad now but back then it was even worse. But Senna triumphed over all challenges and became one of the greatest of all time. India is in a way better position now with a lot better infrastructure in Coimbatore and not to mention the Buddha Circuit. This is article isn't a debate over our infrastructure but to celebrate Indian nationals in Motorsports as the majority cannot name more than 2 stars, that is Narain Karthikeyan and Karun Chandhok. So here is a list of Indians who have made headlines in Motorsports.
So without any further ado lets dive straight into it.
Alisha Abdullah is an Indian racing driver who not only races cars but motorcycles too. Alisha, born on July 24th 1989 has racing in her DNA. Her father RA Abdullah was himself a seven-time National motorbike champion. Alisha is Indias first female national racing champion. Not to mention the countries prettiest National racing champion.
Sandeep Kumar Ambalavanan has been racing since he was 14years old. Born on November 9th 1992 in Chennai, he started Karting at the age of 14 and later progressed to Formula cars and Saloons. In 2012 he won the VW Polo R Cup National Pro Championship which got him a scholarship to participate in the VW Scirocco Cup Europe for 2013. He currently races in the MRF F1600 formula series, the VW Ameo Cup and the LGB F4, but the more commendable thing is that he is a title contender in all of them.
J.Anand currently runs a rally car team and he provides Automobile R&D services to several Automobile Manufacturers. But he is a former racing driver from Coimbatore who raced in the 80s and 90s.
Yash Aradhya is only 17 years old from Banglore and has achieved 65 podiums and 13 championships in various racing series in the last 8 years. He is definitely a rising star with a very promising future.
Karun Chandhok as mentioned earlier doesn't require much introduction. Born on 19th January 1984 who has now become a TV presenter after retiring from F1. Karun raced for Hispania Racing in 2010. Karun is the son of veteran racing driver Vicky Chandhok who has done a lot for Indian motorsports. A lesser-known fact is Vicky Chandhok raced with Vijay Mallya and are great friends. So when Karun was racing for Hispania, there were rumours of him joining Force India which was Vijay Mallya's F1 Racing Team. Fortunately/Unfortunately It never happened. Never-the-less Karun has raced Formula E and Lemans both. I have personally had the chance of meeting Karun and sharing a few laps around a go-kart track with him years ago before he ever made it to F1.
Advait Dheodhar is an Automobile Design student from Mumbai who raced Jk Tyre and MRF racing series. For whoever says "you can't make a career in racing if you didn't start early", Advait proves them wrong. Advait didn't start his racing career till he was 22. He graduated Automobile Design from Turin, Italy and then competed in India from 2012 to 2014. In 2015 he got on a plane with a one-way ticket to London with the dream of making a Motor-Racing Career. I find it admirable as I never took my racing career seriously and gave up at the age of 17 thinking I was too old and I wasn't getting anywhere. So when I see someone get into Motorsports at 22 and make into the European Nascar Championship by 28 is really really admirable to me personally. Not sure about his choice of socks though.
Jehan Daruwala is a racing driver competing in the FIA Formula 2 Championship with Carlin Motorsports. He was a protege of the Force India F1 team, after being one of the winners of a 'One in Billion hunt' organized by the team in 2011. He is now a member of the Red Bull Junior Team. Jehan has already made waves in the global Karting scene. He has won the British KF3 championship and has been in a runner up in both the CIK FIA World Championships as well as the DKM Championship. He was one of the best prospects we had for the next Indian F1 Driver, but the demise of the Force India F1 Team hit his career progress chances.
Armaan Ebrahim was born in Chennai on May 17, 1989. He is the son of Formula 3 champion Akbar Ebrahim. He was racing in the FIA GT series for BMW Auto service Team India. He Also Raced and won 7 Races for Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo Asia (Champion Pro-Am)in 2016. In 2019 Ebrahim and Aditya Patel created X1 Racing which is the world's first franchise-based professional motorsports league.
Gaurav Gill is the First Indian Driver to win the FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship in 2013. Gaurav(Born Dec 2nd 1981) has become the first-ever Indian Racing driver to win the Arjuna Award in 2019. Gaurav Gill is not only quick in a Rally car in the dirt but also on the track in a single-seater, and as if that was not enough, he is quick on 2 wheels around the track too.
Nazir Hoosein was not only a Racing Driver but was a motorsports administrator too. In 1980 Hoosein founded the Himalayan Rally Association and started the Himalayan Rally. My mom's brother was a rally driver in the Himalayan Rally in 1980. Yes for the people who didn't know this about me, I am the nephew of Himalayan Rally Driver, Tanay Parikh. The Himalayan Rally ran through the world's highest mountains in the north of India. In 1988 Hoosein organized the Great Desert-Himalaya Rally. This Rally wan from the Thar Desert of Rajasthan, Ran through Shivalik Hills, Himachal, Ladakh and ended in Srinagar. Hoosein was elected to the World Motorsports Council in 1993. In 1999 Hoosein formed the Motorsports Association of India. Hoosein was a big part of getting Max Mosley votes from Asia and get him elected as the FIA president. In 2000 when FIA recognised Motorsports Association of India as the Governing body in India to which the Indian Government refused to recognise MAI. This meant that Hoosein was unable to represent India at the FIA. But when you help Mosley it does pay off one way or the other. Later a deal was made allowing Hoosein to be a member of the World Motor Sport Council representing China. He was later elected a VP of the FIA for sport in 2005 as a member of the candidacy list of Max Mosley who was re-elected. The following year he was appointed as the chief steward of the World Rally Championship. Hoosein died on May 12th 2019 at the age of 78. Hoosein is a less known Motorsports figure of India who did a lot for the sport in India despite all the politics he faced in India. You all might have known him as the owner of Liberty Cinema
Karna Kadur is a National Rally Champion who was born on June 24th 1988 in Banglore. He was a motorsports manager and development driver at Red Rooster Performance. He was also a driving instructor for them. He currently is a driver for Team Yokohama India and Red Rooster Performance according to his Linked-in account.
Sundaram Karivardhan Naidu Or Kari was not only an Indian Formula racing driver but also a designer and a business executive. Hw was one of the Pioneers of Indian Motorsports. He designed the Formula Maruti open-wheeled race car which exists and is a platform for all the upcoming drivers in India. Formula Maruti was the entry to motorsports for Narain Karthikeyan, Karun Chandhok and Armaan Ebrahim. Sundaram supported all three of them in their careers. Sundaram was killed at the age of 41 in 1995 in an aviation accident.
Narain Karthikeyan is another driver who requires no introduction. Narain born on January 14th 1977 was the first Indian to make it to Formula1. He has competed in A1 Gp and at Lemans. He made his F1 debut with Jordan Team in 2005 and was a Williams test driver in 2006 and 2007. Then he went on to race stock cars. in 2010 he raced Nascar Camping World Truck series before returning to the F1 in 2011 with the HRT team. He continued with HRT in 2012 as well and was expected to drive for them in 2013 but HRT never made it to the FIA's entry list for 2013. From 2014 to 2018 Narain raced in Japanese Super Formula series. In 2019 he joined SuperGT series in Japan. Narain in 2010 won the Padmashri Award which happens to be the 4th highest civilian honour.
Lee Keshav who is born on December 27th 1992 is not only a racing driver but is also an entrepreneur and a UX designer from New Delhi. Being interested in automobiles, technology and speed from an early age when Keshav discovered F1 on tv, he decided to pursue motor racing. Keshav has quiet low media presence so finding his details were a little more challenging than some of the others. Being passionate about MotoGP Keshav went to Superbike school in Thailand at the age of 16. He trained for formula racing under Akbar Ebrahim. Keshav debuted in the very competitive JK tyre VW motorsports. He won the fastest and fittest young driver of 2013. After this Keshav has had a very lavish motorsport career and has competed against the likes of Freddie Hunt and Mathias Lauda amongst other top racing drivers from around the world.
Rajini Krishnan became a national road racing champion in 2011. In 2013 he became the first Indian winner of an international road racing event by winning at the Losail Asian Road Racing Championship in Qatar. He has also won the Malaysian Superbike Championship in 2015. Rajini has also raced for Motorev India as a Junior Driver in 2011 FIM Asian Road Racing championship.
Ajith Kumar Subramaniam who is widely known as Ajith, Tamil cinema Actor is lesser-known a Motorsport driver. Ajith raced in the MRF racing series in 2010. He has starred in over 50 films, predominately in Tamil cinema. In addition to his acting, Ajith participated in the 2004 British Formula 3 season as a Formula Two racing driver and was ranked the third best motor car driver in India at his peak.
Sarath Kumar (Left) makes it to this list very fewer achievements than most on this list is because, in a sport where you have to be rich or need to be backed by giant-sized sponsors who have a very short attention span and take a lot to be dazzled, Sarath Kumar was a very promising star. At one point financial difficulties made him think about taking up taxi driving. We don't know if he actually did or not but he disappeared from the face of motorcycle racing post-2014.
N. Leelakrishnan widely known as Leela in motorsport circles is a 6time INRC motor rally champion and has won Formula 3 Indian Championship in Coimbatore, India. He also tunes rally and race cars and is the chief technical director of Red Rooster Racing. His tuned cars have won 15 National championship titles.
Arjun Maini who is born on December 10th 1997 is currently racing in the Adian LeMans Series for RLR MSport Team. He has competed in FIA F2 Championship with Trident Racing as well as Campos Racing. He is one of the rising stars of our country and a great F1 prospect for India. He has raced in BRDC F4 Championship as well.
Shahan Ali Mohsin, born on July 13th 2004 is an Asia max Karting Champion and a 2-time JK Tyre National Champion in the micro max category. Being always interested in cars, engines and speed he drove a recreational go-kart at the age of 7 and then was encouraged to take up competitive Motorsport. Mohsin made his debut in 2013 with JK tyre National Rotax championship. He made it to the podium 3 times out of 7 races in his maiden season, under the mentorship of Akbar Ebrahim, where he was racing against more experienced drivers About to turn 16 Shahan of Taj City Agra has become the youngest driver to win the senior category JK tyre National Karting championship in 2019.
Aditya Patel is the kin of a Veteran driver Kamlesh Patel. He has years of Karting, F-BMW, VW scirocco-R cup, ADAC GT Masters, International GT open and racing in the Audi R8 LMS Cup across Asia. Aditya Patel represents Audi India in Motorsports now. He has also competed in 24 hours of Nurburgring.
Akhil Rabindra born on May 22nd 1996 is a graduate from University of Edinburgh, Scotland. In 2019 Akhil chose the Aston Martin Racing Academy driver and raced in the GT4 European Series and drove the Aston Martin Vantage GT4. He was a part of the FIA Institute's 2014 young driver academy and participated in the JK Racing Championship & Formula masters series.
Mahaveer Raghunathan born on November 17th 1998 is a driver who competed in the 2019 FIA F2 Championship. Mahavir has also competed in F4 and FIA F3. But he isn't making it to this list for his awesome driving skills but for making a joke of himself on the international motor racing circuits time and again. He is a prime example of someone who has zero talent but a guardian angel getting him sponsors. So without a single fastest race, podium, points, wins, poles or anything he progressed in the world of motorsports. He is always 2-3 seconds slower than the person ahead of him and he is usually last. Because he starts and finishes lasts he doesn't care much and gets further penalties which makes him finish 2 laps down. Because of such a shameful career he doesn't really give interviews or update his social media. So learning about him and getting information about him was impossible as if he was a KGB or a MI5 agent.
K. Rajini has been on the global biking circuit for a while now. Previously he has participated in the entire season of the Qatar Superbike Championship and Malaysian super series in the 1000cc class.
Anindith Reddy became the National champion driver in the 2016 Euro JK 16 championship and also in the Euro JK 2017 championship. He got Motorsport person of the year 2017 at the FMSCI. He won VW Vento cup in 2015 in Delhi. He received outstanding achievement in world motorsport award from FMSCI in 2019.
Tarun Reddy made it through the Force Indias Driver Hunt program, Just like Arjun and Jehan and had made lots of progress. He has been a regular at the MRF series in India and other countries and has performed pretty well in the prototype Formula Renail Championship. Tarun has moved up to F4 in the FIA MSA Formula Championship.
CS Santosh is another popular name in the world of Indian Motorsports. He is the first Indian ever to participate in the very demanding and gruelling Dakar Rally. With Redbull behind him, he has done Abu Dhabi and Morocco rounds of the WCCRC, Ruta 40 in Argentina and Atacama Rally in 2015.
Sneha Sharma is a Pilot with IndiGo Airlines since 2012. Sharma born on August 1st 1990 competes in F4 National Racing championships. She is now known as Indias Fastest F4 Racing Driver.
Gautam Singhania a name very popular in the Business world is equally a big name in the World of Indian Motorsports. He is known for his passion for cars and has driven an F1 car at an international circuit, supercars on ice, has participated in the gumball rally and is India's only Drift License holder amongst other achievements in Motorsports. Singhania participated in Ferrari challenge Europe and scored a double podium finish and continues to race across legendary circuits like Imola, Monza, Mugello etc. I believe he is also one of the founding members of Supercar Club of India.
Ashwin Sundar born on July 27th 1989 in Madras(Chennai) was most active during 2005 till recent years winning several nationals titles in Go-Karting, single-seater Formula cars, motorcycles and Saloon cars. Sundar died on 18 March 2017 as the result of an auto accident. His BMW caught fire after hitting a tree and got stuck between the tree and a wall on the roadside. He and his wife were killed in this unfortunate event.
Parthiva Sureshwaren raced in the 2006-07 A1 GP Season for A1 team India at the Australian round replacing Karthikeyan. He proxied for injured Karthikeyan again at Durban during 2007-08 season. He also competed in the Formula V6 Asia in 2007 and got 2 podium finishes.
Raj Bharath Swaminathan, born on November 20th 1994 who has raced in Formula 2000 MRF Challenge where he was a regular on the podium. He has also raced Formula masters cup in China.
Prashanth Tharani was a runner up at VW Polo R cup in India in 2013. Later he competed in 24 hours of Dubai Endurance, 12 hours of Zandvoort, Three rounds of the Creventic Endurance Championship in a Seat Supercopa and 24 hours of Paul Ricard in the seat Eurocup Car
Karthik Tharani during his time has competed in F1600 MRF and the Polo R Cup and Poland's Castrol Cup. During his time he has secured the National Championship 4 times.
Ameya Vaidyanathan was born on July 29th 1996 in Pune. He competed in Japanese F3 Championship in 2019 with B-Max Racing with Motopark. He has previously raced in BRDC British F3, Castrol Toyota racing series, Euro Formula open, F3 European Championship, BRDC F4 amongst others.
Bani Yadav born on September 7th 1971 is the last one on this list. But she has been the first Indian woman to achieve a lot of the firsts on this list. She opened the gates for women in Indian Motorsports by showing its possible. She is a rally driver and motorsports promoter. She has been a National AutoCross Ladies champion for 2019 and 2018. The only woman to win most of the cross country Rally titles in the Women's class in India. She is also the first Woman to stand 2nd in the IRC Rally De North. The same year she received the FMSCI outstanding woman in Motorsports Award for rallying. She was the 1st Indian woman to drive F4 on the Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi. Bani has also been awarded an International Doctorate in Motorsports.
Doing the research for this article saddened me as a lot of promising stars of India just disappeared after showing a very promising career and that is because motorsports is and always has been a very expensive sport. One cant survive without major sponsors or really deep pockets. While there are stars like Sarath Kumar who disappear despite having the talent drivers like Mahaveer Raghunathan cling on and make a mockery of themselves and our country. The purpose of this article was to bring more awareness so that Indian motorsports gets the love and attention it deserves.
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