Narain Karthikeyan
Narain Karthikeyan is a name synonymous with the world of motorsports in India. He is the first Indian Formula One driver and a pioneer in the sport. He has been instrumental in putting India on the map of international motorsports. Let’s delve into his early life, education, professional life, and achievements.
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Narain Karthikeyan
Narain Karthikeyan is a name synonymous with the world of motorsports in India. He is the first Indian Formula One driver and a pioneer in the sport. He has been instrumental in putting India on the map of international motorsports. Let’s delve into his early life, education, professional life, and achievements.
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Early Life and Education
Kumar Ram Narain Karthikeyan, born on 14 January 1977, is a renowned Indian racing driver who had a fascination with motor racing from an early age. Karthikeyan was born in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, and attended Stanes Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School. His father was a former Indian national rally champion who won the South India Rally seven times, which inspired Karthikeyan to pursue a career in motorsports. His ambition was to become India’s first Formula One driver.
Karthikeyan started his racing career at Sriperumpudur, where he finished on the podium in his first-ever race in a Formula Maruti. In 1992, Karthikeyan enrolled in the Elf Winfield Racing School in France, where he became a semi-finalist in the Pilote Elf Competition for Formula Renault cars. He returned to India to race in the 1993 Formula Maruti season and competed in the Formula Vauxhall Junior championship in Great Britain.
Professional Life
Karthikeyan’s journey in professional racing began in 1994 when he returned to the UK to race in the Formula Ford Zetec series. He was the number two works Vector driver for the Foundation Racing team. He managed to finish on the podium in a support race for the Portuguese Grand Prix held at Estoril. In the same year, he took part in the British Formula Ford Winter Series, becoming the first Indian driver to win any championship in Europe.
In 1995, Karthikeyan participated in only four races in the Formula Asia Championship. However, he immediately showed his pace by finishing second in the race at Shah Alam, Malaysia. In 1996, he won the Formula Asia International series, becoming the first Indian and the first Asian to do so. In 1997, Karthikeyan returned to Britain to compete in the British Formula Opel Championship with the Nemesis Motorsport team, taking a pole position and win at Donington Park and finishing sixth in the overall points standings.
Karthikeyan made his debut in the British Formula 3 Championship with the Carlin Motorsport team in 1998. Competing in only ten rounds, he managed two third-place finishes in the National class. He finished fourth overall in the British F3 Championship in 2000 and the World Nissan series in 2003.
Karthikeyan’s career highlight came when he made his Formula One debut in 2005 with the Jordan team. He became the first Indian driver to compete in Formula One. Karthikeyan became a Williams F1 test driver in 2006 and 2007. He then moved to stock car racing and drove the No. 60 Safe Auto Insurance Company Toyota Tundra for Wyler Racing in the 2010 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.
In 2011, Karthikeyan returned to F1 with the HRT team and continued with the team in 2012. He was expected to drive for them in the 2013 season as well, but HRT was not included in the FIA’s 2013 entry list, leaving Karthikeyan without a drive. From 2014 to 2018, he raced in the Japanese Super Formula series, and in 2019, he ended his single-seater career by joining the SuperGT series in Japan.
Personal Life and Family
Karthikeyan is a private individual and keeps his personal life away from the media. He is married and has a son. The Indian government awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of Padma Shri.
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