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Narain Karthikeyan
Birthdate: January 14th 1977
Country: India India
Gender: M
History:
1992 - ELF Winfield Racing School, France won debut race Pilote Elf Competition for Formula Renault.
1993 - Formula Maruti Formula Vauxhall Junior championship
1994 - Formula Ford Zetec. First Indian to win the British Formula Ford Winter series. Podium at Portuguese Grand Prix support race at Estoril.
1995 - Formula Asia. Four races, second at Shah Alam in Malaysia
1996 - Won Formula Asia championship with a host of records. The only Indian and only Asian to win the Formula Asia International series.
1997 - Sixth in the British Formula Opel Championship
1998 - British Formula 3 (Carlin Motorsport) - eight races, two 3rd place finishes at Spa-Francochamps and Silverstone
1999 - Autosport British Formula 3 Championship (Carlin Motorsport), 5 podiums, 2 wins at Brands Hatch, 2 pole positions, 3 fastest laps, 2 lap records. 6th in the championship among 30 drivers Qualified sixth and finished the second leg of the Macau Grand Prix in 6th place.
2000 - British F3 Championship - fourth place overall. 1 lap record, pole at Macau Grand Prix, wins in Spa and the Korea F3 Super Prix
2001 - First Indian to test a Formula One car, with Jaguar at Silverstone. Additional F1 tests with Benson & Hedges Jordan Honda at Silverstone and Mugello. Formula Nippon Championship
2002 - Formula Nissan World Series (Team Tata RC Motorsport)
2003 - Formula Nissan World Series (Carlin Motorsport) F1 test with Minardi
2004 - Formula Nissan World Series (Team Tata RC Motorsport), FIA GT Championship
2005 - FIA F1 World Championship (Jordan Grand Prix) Race Driver
When Narain Karthikeyan arrived in Australia he knew that 2 billion eager eyes would be watching him. Being the first Indian driver ever to race in F1 put even more pressure on Narain that most rookies.
Narain's appearance on the big scene came following a moderately successful 3 years in British F3 with Carlin Motorsport. In 2000 he finished fourth in the championship, leading to Formula 1 tests with Jaguar and Jordan.
Neither of these tests came to anything, and Karthikeyan was forced to hang around. However when the Midland Group announced they were taking over the Jordan team and placed Trevor Carlin as team boss, Karthikeyan was flung into a race seat with his F3 boss' team.
The early signs looked good. Despite being in an underpowered Jordan Toyota, Karthikeyan outqualified and outraced fellow rookie Tiago Monteiro. The team hailed his first race as a success.
The Indian knew he wouldn't be getting any higher than the back two rows of the grid, so when he regularly beat his team-mate and the Minardis for the first few races his confidence grew. However as the European season began he slipped behind his team-mate. It all came to a low in Monaco, where he was annihilated by his team-mate and left to fight the Minardis.
Nurburgring and Canada followed, once again with little success. However his luck was about to turn at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
For the first time this season, Bridgestone tyres were the tyres to have. With just 6 cars on the grid, Karthikeyan could sense a podium. Pushing hard, this was the race in which he desperately needed to beat his team-mate.
Sadly it wasn't to be. Karthikeyan was beaten into fourth by Monteiro. However 5 points were a great boost in his first season.
India had a new superstar.
But the excitement was to be short-lived. Karthikeyan never reached those dizzy heights again and dropped off the pace at the end of the season.
After Midland confirmed Cristijan Albers for the 2006 season, Karthikeyan was left with minimal hopes of keeping his seat. This wasn't helped by a falling-out with team boss Cristian Kolles, and Karthikeyan began searching for a third driver role for 2006, preferably with Williams.
Statistics
Statistic # Percentage First Last
Number of Grand Prix 19 100% Grand Prix of Australia - 2005-03-06 2005 Grand Prix of China - 2005-10-16 2005
Number of starts 19 100.00% Grand Prix of Australia - 2005-03-06 2005 Grand Prix of China - 2005-10-16 2005
Number of finishes 14 73.68% Grand Prix of Australia - 2005-03-06 2005 Grand Prix of Japan - 2005-10-09 2005
Number of finishes in points 1 5.26% Grand Prix of the U.S.A. - 2005-06-19 2005 Grand Prix of the U.S.A. - 2005-06-19 2005
Number of retirements 5 26.32% Grand Prix of Bahrain - 2005-04-03 2005 Grand Prix of China - 2005-10-16 2005
Seasons: 1 (2005)
Points: 5 (Average per start: 0.26)
Points per season
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5
2005
Team: Jordan Ford (2005)
Chassis: Jordan EJ15 (2005)
Engine: Toyota (2005)
NARAIN KARTHIKEYAN
Formula one driver
Hailed as the fastest Indian in the world by the British Motoring Press, Kumar Ram Narain Karthikeyan is the Ist Formula One driver from India.
Born on January 14th 1977 in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, as the son of G. R. Karthikeyan, a former Indian National Rally Champion, Narain got his aspirations in motor sport from his father at an early age. Young Narain's aim was to become the first Formula one Driver of India, a feat he succeeded to achieve later in life. His first ever race was at Sri Perumbatore near Chennai in a Formula Maruti at 16 years of age which he finished on the podium. He took training at Elf Winfield Racing School, France, and became a Semi Finalist in the Pilote Elf Competition for Formula Renault Cars in 1992.
In 1993 he came back to India to participate in Formula Maruti and also competed in Formula Vauxhall Junior Championship in Great Britain. With this experience in European racing he returned to UK in 1994 for racing in Formula Ford Zetec Series as the No.2 driver for the foundation racing team. In that season he had to his credit a podium finish in a support race for the Portuguese Grand Prix held at Estoril. He went on to become the first Indian to win a Championship in Europe at the British Formula Ford Winter Series.
In 1995, Narian Karthikeyan, moved onto Formula Asia Championship for just four races and proved his talent in the short spell by finishing second in the race at Shah Alam, Malaysia. In 1996 he completed a full season in the series and became the first Asian and Indian to win the Formula Asia International Series. 1997 saw him move back to UK to compete in the British Formula Opel Championship in which he took the Pole Position and had a win at Domington Park and also finished 6th in the overall point standing.
Narian Karthikeyan made his debut at the British Formula Three Championships in 1998 with Karlin Motor sport Team and had a moderately successful spell with them for the next three years. He managed two third place finishes in the finale two Races of the season by competing only in 10 rounds at Spa Francor Champs and Silver Stone and finished 12th overall. In 1999 he continued the Championship finishing the podium five times including two wins at Brands Hatch Race. He also had two poll positions three fastest laps and two lap records during the season and finished in the 6th position among 30 drivers in the Championships. He qualified in the 6th position in the Macao Grand Prix and finished 6th in the second race. He continued in the British F3 Championship during 2000 and finished 4th in the overall standing and also took pole position and the fastest lap in the Macau Grand prix. He also took the podium of the International F3 races at Spa Francor Champs, Belgium and Korean Super Prix.
Narain, started 2001 in the Formula Nippon F3000 Championships and finished the year as one among the top ten. The same year, he test drew a Formula One Car at Silverstone on June14th for Jaguar Racing becoming the first ever Indian to achieve this feet. Impressed with his performance, he was asked to test drive the Benson & Hedges Jordan Honda EJ 11 again at Silverstone.
In 2002, he moved into the Telefonica World Series with Team Tata RC Motorsport, taking a pole position and setting the fastest non-F1 lap time at the Interlagos Circuit in Brazil. Moving to the World Series by Nissan in 2003, a series considered only next to Formula One, Karthikeyan won two races with the Minardi Teak and took three other podium positions on his way to 4th overall in the championship. This results earned him another Formula One test drive with Minardi. In 2004, he was offered a race drive, but was unable to raise the necessary sponsorship funds to seal the deal. He continued with the World Series by Nissan and won two races at Valencia in Spain and at Magny Cours in France.
In 2005, he was signed by the Jordan formula one team, making him India's first Formula One racing driver. He made an impressive debut at Melbourne, but the season was not a great success and he ended it with a crash at the Chinese Grandprix at Shanghai. At the end of the year, Jordan team was taken over by Midland for the 2006 season, and Narain looked elsewhere for work as he could not afford the amount they were demanding for his seat in the team. He ended up at Williams as a test driver in 2006. Williams confirmed Narain as their fourth driver in January 2006. He has remained with Williams in 2007 and has been promoted to third driver position and is participating in A1 grand Prix series. According to Narain, his decision to join Williams as a test driver rather than continue as a race driver with Jordan has helped him explore the intricacies of Formula One technology. His managers are now exploring the options with a couple of teams for him to be a race driver for the next season.
Besides racing cars, he loves Trap and Skeet Shooting, Wildlife Photography, Philanthropy and Tennis. He does weight training, yoga and meditation to keep fit. He is married to Pavarna, the daughter of an industrialist.
Narain has a come a long way and has made the country proud by achieving his ultimate goal of becoming India's first Formula one racer. He recently opened a motor racing academy 'Speed NK Racing' in Coimbatore and is doing his bit to train young Indian race drivers to break into the big league.
Today, he is a sports icon for the young Indians who look forward to compete in the Formula Series Races. |
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