India’s growing participation in motorsports

Motorsport has been in existence, ever since automobiles were invented. During its more than 100 year old history, motorsport has been classified into various forms like Formula 1, Moto Gp, Touring Car Championship, Endurance Championship, Rally Championship and many others.

India’s history in this sport internationally does not date long back, but recently its participation has increased manifold. Today many of its drivers are competing in international championships, its companies are operating their own independent teams, and also it has the state of the art Buddh International Circuit at Greater Noida, which has been hosting the Indian Grand Prix for the last three years.

The various achievements of India in this sport are enumerated below:

The Indian Grand Prix

GREATER NOIDA, INDIA – OCTOBER 18: General view of the main grandstand during the media preview of the Buddh International Circuit on October 18, 2011 in Greater Noida, India. India

There had been rumors of an Indian Grand Prix as far back as 1997, when Calcutta had bid to host the race, but the bid failed. Subsequently cities like Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad also proposed to hold a grand prix, but the plan never clearly materialized.

Finally in 2007, it was announced that the race would take place at Greater Noida. The Circuit, called The Buddh International Circuit was to host the race in 2009, but later it was delayed by two years. The Inaugural event in 2011 became a huge success, attracting a crowd of over 95,000, but in the subsequent years, crowd attendance went down as only around 60,000 people attended the event.

Until now, all the three races have been won by Sebastian Vettel, with the 2013 edition of the grand prix witnessing the crowning of him as the youngest ever four times world champion. The Indian Grand Prix has been dropped from the calendar for 2014, but will be returning in 2015.

Although recently crowd turnout has been lesser than expected, but if the sport is promoted more widely, then there is indeed a very good chance for this event to continue in the future. The track in particular has been praised by everyone and with the arrival of Formula 1; it has also opened gates for other such motorsports.

Sahara Force India Formula 1 Team

SAO PAULO, BRAZIL – NOVEMBER 24: Paul di Resta of Great Britain and Force India drives during the Brazilian Formula One Grand Prix at Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace on November 24, 2013 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. (Photo by Paul Gilham/Getty Images)

The team is owned by Vijay Mallaya and Subroto Roy, founded in 2008, when the Dutch Spyker F1 team was purchased by Vijay Mallaya. The team had a rough start in 2008, with finishing at the bottom of the grid. But in 2009, the team saw its high point, as its driver Giancarlo Fisichella grabbed first pole position for the team at the Belgian Grand Prix and first podium for the team, when he scored a second place in the same race. In the following race, Adrian Sutil got the team fourth place at the Italian Grand Prix. Since then Force India has remained a successful midfield team.

Mahindra Racing

ALCANIZ, SPAIN – SEPTEMBER 28: Miguel Oliveira of Portugal and Mahindra Racing rounds the bend during the MotoGP of Spain – Qualifying at Motorland Aragon Circuit on September 28, 2013 in Alcaniz, Spain. (Photo by Mirco Lazzari gp/Getty Images)

Mahindra Racing, founded in 2011 has been competing in Moto GP World Championship. It is currently involved in Moto 3 category of the Championship. In 2013, it finished third in the constructor’s and its driver Miguel Oliviera scored third place and gave the team their first podium.

Mahindra will also be competing in 2014 in the newly formed Formula E Championship, a motor racing competition running electrically powered racing cars. Karun Chandhok is rumored to drive for the team next year. Former F1 drivers like Alain Prost, Mario Andretti and Aguri Suzuki have also formed their own teams.

MRF Challenge

MRF has historically been involved actively in Indian motorsport arena, MRF challenge has emerged recently as a platform for both Indian and foreign drivers to perform well in Formula cars. The championship includes rounds at both India and Bahrain.

JK Tyre National Racing Championship

Another national championship, it has been in existence since 1997. It has also served as launch pad for Indian drivers like Karun Chandhok and Armaan Ibrahim.

Indian Drivers successful Internationally

Narain Karthikeyan

NOIDA, INDIA – OCTOBER 25: Narain Karthikeyan of India and Hispania Racing Team attends the drivers press conference during previews for the Indian Formula One Grand Prix at Buddh International Circuit on October 25, 2012 in Noida, India. (Photo by Paul Gilham/Getty Images)

Whenever someone discusses about an Indian race driver, the first name that comes to mind is that of Narain Karthikeyan. Karthikeyan or the Fastest Indian in the World, is the first Indian driver to enter the Formula 1 arena. He got into F1 in 2005 with Jordan F1 Team. At the United States Grand Prix, he got his best finish of fourth position, albeit under abnormal circumstances, as only six drivers competed in the race. After serving as Williams F1 team’s test driver in 2006 and 2007, he finally returned to the grid with HRT in 2011 and 2012. But when the team was shut down by the end of 2012, he was left without a drive. In 2013, he had a very successful campaign in Auto GP World Championship, where he secured five wins, en route to fourth place in the driver’s championship. He has also competed in distinguished events like 24 Hours of Le Mans, NASCAR World Championship, A1 GP, etc.

Karun Chandhok

NOIDA, INDIA – OCTOBER 28: Karun Chandhok of India and Team Lotus prepares to drive during practice for the Indian Formula One Grand Prix at the Buddh International Circuit on October 28, 2011 in Noida, India. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

Karun Chandhok is another Indian driver to have made it to F1. After competing for three years in GP2 series, where he got two wins, he finally made a move to F1 in 2010, when he joined the newly formed Hispania Racing Team. Next year, he served as test driver for Lotus Racing, before leaving the sport. He was not able to perform well during his stint in F1, largely due to the fact that his cars were not competitive. Outside F1, Chandhok finished 6th at the 24 Hour of Le Mans in 2012 and 13th the following year. He is currently competing in the GT1 World Championship. He is also vying for a seat with Mahindra Racing in Formula E next year. Also, next year both he and Karthikeyan are looking for a seat at the IndyCar World Championship. Outside Motorsport, he has been an active commentator associated with Sky Sports F1 and Fox Sports Asia.

Armaan Ebrahim

Armaan Ibrahim has shown a lot of talent at a young age. After competing in Formula 2 for two years, he is currently competing in GT1 World Championship. His father, Akbar Ebrahim was highly involved in motorsport during the 80s and 90s.

Gaurav Gill

Gaurav Gill is an Indian rally diver, who has competed in both national and international rally championships. In 2013, he became the first Indian to win the Asia Pacific Rally Championship. This year, he also participated in few rounds of World Rally Championship/

Jehan Daruvala

The 15 year old Force India Academy driver has shown a lot of promise in Karting Championships. He recently won the British Karting Championship, the same championship which was previously won by the likes of Sebastian Vettel and Sebastian Buemi and British drivers Nigel Mansell and Jenson Button.

Other Achievements

During the 1990s Vijay Mallaya’s Kingfisher had sponsored the then Benetton F1 team. Also, TATA sponsored Jordan, Williams and HRT during Karthikeyan’s association with them.

8 Sep 1996: A view of Jean Alesi of France and the Benetton team driving during the Italian grand prix at Monza in Italy. Mandatory Credit: Pascal Rondeau/Allsport

Hero MotoCorp has recently buyed 49.2% stake of Eric Buell Racing and has entered the AMA Pro Racing Superbikes Championship in USA.

India was to launch its own racing league called the i1 Super Series. The races were to be held at India, United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Bahrain and Qatar. Also, the series had succeeded to rope in former Formula 1 drivers like Jean Alesi, Giancarlo Fisichella and Heinz Harald Frentzen among others to participate in the series. Besides them, many Indian drivers were also given the chance to race in it in order to provide more exposure to the country’s racing talent. With the pre-season testing also completed, the season was to commence from January 2013 onwards, but currently it has been put on hold.

Though, India did not garner much success in the 20^th century, but with the dawn of the 21^st century, hopes have been increased highly due to the emergence of young talent in the country, who have indeed shown that they have the mettle to survive and succeed in the sport in the future and will bring a lot of laurels to their country. Formula 1 has now started to establish its foothold in the country and if it becomes more popular, then surely it will also open the gates for other such similar motorsports to follow in the future.