Get To Know: 19 Indian Motorsport Athletes Racing Abroad in 2015

India might not be on the F1 calendar anymore thanks to the dubious amounts of red tape involved with taxation policies in India, but his hasn’t stopped Indian motorsport athletes from pursuing their passion and participating in global race series across some of the best circuits in the world. The last 2 years has seen more Indian racers driving/ riding abroad than ever before and 2015 aims to be one of the best years yet. The past few months have been especially crucial for these drivers as far as raising funds and finding a seat in the best possible team in 2015 is concerned. Scroll on to know more about them. 

Let’s face it – being a race car driver is every man’s dream if you can overlook the rampant gender stereotyping of that statement, of course. Fast cars tend to go hand-in-glove with an equally fast lifestyle filled with women, parties and most importantly, the chase of getting better every single time you take the wheel. While names like Narain Karthikeyan and Karun Chandok are more or less household ones now though, there’s more happening for Indian motorsport than meets the eye. 

There are, in fact, many more young drivers who are waving our flag high at some of the best race tracks across the globe. The price they pay to be a part of this sport isn’t cheap either. It’s one of the most expensive and challenging sports. A season of Polo Cup in the country itself costs approximately 15 lakhs and the truth is, if you really want to take this dream ahead, drivers need to go to Asia and Europe to really see their worth and speed on track. That’s bound to make their wallets lighter by at least 100,000 euros for a season depending on what series they take part in so as you can see, this is no easy feat. 

On top of monetary issues, the competition abroad is ruthless too, quickly separating the wheat from the chaff. There are however, two key teams that have really helped to nurture worldwide talent in motorsport right here in India. These are Team Rayo Racing run by multiple racing champion, Rayomand Banajee & Meco Motorsport which is run by veteran Akbar Ebrahim. Thanks to them, many young Indian drivers are able to pursue their passion, racing in different series around the world. It’s this same passion that keeps them competing with the best in the world on tracks like Suzuka, Nurburgring and other such world famous arenas. 

All this being said and done however, it may take a while before we can see an Indian driver on the F1 grid but we wouldn’t be surprised to find one winning in Touring Cars or Le-Mans very soon so it’s best you get to know and support them while they continue on this difficult career path! Without further ado, here are some of India’s best, young drivers racing abroad in 2015 that are worth watching out for in the years to come.

 I. Armaan Ebrahim

Son of veteran race car driver, Akbar Ebrahim, this junior racer is one of the top race cars drivers to come out of india and  was recently racing in the FIA GT Series for BMW Auto Service Team India. He has yet to reveal his plans for the year, but we can expect something big from Armaan in 2015.

II. Aditya Patel 

Aditya Patel is also the kin of a veteran race car driver Kamlesh Patel who has years of experience in karting, F-Bmw, Vw Scirocco-R Cup, ADAC GT Masters, International GT open and racing in the Audi R8 LMS Cup across Asia in 2015.

III. Advait Dheodhar 

Adavit is a car design student from Mumbai who has raced in the JK Tyre & MRF racing series in India and abroad. This year, he will be participating in the RaceTo24 show, where we could win the chance to drive as the 4th member of a Le Mans team.

IV. Jehan Daruwala

Jehan is one of the best prospects we have for an Indian F1 driver, a 16-year-old who has already made waves in the global karting scene. He’s won the british KF3 championship and has come in as runner up in both the CIK FIA World Championship as well as the DKM Championship. This year he makes his move to single seaters in the Formula Renault 2.0 championship, as well as guest drives in the Formula Renault 2.0 ALPS championship and Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup.

V. Arjun Maini 

Arjun Maini is one of the other youngest stars in the country who has shown his potential in karting over the years and is another great F1 prospect for India. After his switch to single seater race cars last year in the BRDC Formula 4 Championship where he was the runner-up, he aims to ride the high and complete the entire season of the European F3 in 2015.

VI. Tarun Reddy 

Tarun was one of the finalists of the Force India Driver hunt just like Arjun & Jehan and has made massive progress since the last 2 years. He was a regular at the MRF series in India and abroad and performed pretty well last year in the Protyre Formula Renault Championship. This year will see Tarun moving up to Formula 4 in the FIA MSA Formula Championship with Double R Racing.

VII. Akhil Rabindra 

This 18-year-old was part of the FIA Institute’s 2014 Young Driver Academy and participated in the JK Racing Championship & Formula masters series. This year he will be participating in the BRDC Formula 4 championship.

VIII. Raj Bharath

Raj Bharath has raced in the formula masters cup in China and was a regular on the podium in the MRF racing series in India. This year, he aims to move up to F3 and has yet to reveal more concrete plans for the year.

IX. Gaurav Gill 

Gaurav Gill is one of the most iconic Indian motorsport athletes and has waved the Indian flag in the world of rallying over the years. He is not only quick on the dirt, but also very much on track in single seaters & bikes and has won numerous championships. He has won the Asia Pacific Rally Championship previously and in 2015, he will continue racing in the APRC in the Team MRF Skoda.

X. Narain Karthikeyan

Narain doesn’t need an introduction clearly. He was India’s first F1 driver and has put us on the global map of racing from the beginning. This year he will continue racing in the super formula series which he was part of last year. The super formula series is known to be one of the fastest racing chamionships in the world and Narain will be the first Indian to compete in series.

XI. Karun Chandok 

Karun is another driver who doesn’t require an introduction as the son of veteran racer, Vicky Chandok, who has been and is instrumental in shaping Indian motorsport and athletes from the country. Karun has raced in numerous global racing series over the years, including F1. In 2015, he will be driving in the Formula E championship and the Illustrious 24 hours of Le Mans.

XII. Prashanth Tharani 

Prashanth was the runner up of the 2013 VW Polo R Cup in India and since then, he has showed his interest in endurance racing. 2014 saw him competing in the 24 hours of Dubai endurance & 12 hours of Zandvoort. This year, he will be competing in three rounds of the Creventic Endurance Championship in a Seat Supercopa, 12 Hours of Zandvoort and 24 Hours of Paul Ricard in the Seat Eurocup car.

XIII. Karthik Tharani 

Karthik is one of the newest racers on the Indian circuit, but during his short time - he has caught the attention of his competitors. Last year saw him secure more than one F1600 MRF series and the Polo R cup. This year, he will continue in MRF’s top racing series and do one round of Poland’s castrol cup.

 
XIV. Mahavir Rangunathan 

Mahavir Rangunathan is one of the new racers on the Indian circuit who competed in F4 last year and will be doing the FIA F3 series this year.

XV. Sarath Kumar 

Sarath is one of the few Indian bike racers who’s managed to go global and is a regular in the National Motorcycle Racing Championship in India. After a series of global appearances he could have an opportunity to participate in the European SuperStock 600, Asian Road Racing Championship 600cc class and the Malaysian Super Sport 600cc class.

XVI. K. Rajini 

Rajini is easily one of the best exports we’ve had on the global biking circuit. Last year, he took part in the entire season of the Qatar superbiking championship and he plans on competing in the Malaysian Super Series in the 1000cc class this year.
 

XVII. CS Santosh 

CS Santosh was the first Indian to participate in the gruelling DAKAR rally last year with Sports/media giant Red Bull backing him. In 2015, he plans on going for The Abu Dhabi and Morocco rounds of the WCCRC, Ruta 40 in Argentina, and even the Atacama Rally during the last quarter of 2015

XVIII. Yash Aradhya 

The youngest driver on this list is 13-year-old Yash Aradhya from Bangalore, who will represent India in the CIK FIA ACADEMY Trophy in 2015. He will be competing against drivers from 50 different countries at karting tracks in Spain, Belgium & France.

XIX. Gautam Singhania 

Gautam Singhania is no stranger to the racing circuit, nor to circles that extend far beyond the circuit either. He is known for his passion for cars and has driven an F1 car at an international circuit, supercars on ice, participated in the gumball ralley and is India’s only Drift license holder, amongst other achievements in the world of motorsports. The Indian business tycoon is participating in the Ferrari Challenge Europe Championship in 2015 where he recently scored a double podium finish and continued the series this year across legendary tracks like Imola, Monza and mugello to name a few.