We want govt to help motorsports by not putting barriers for its development, says former F1 driver Karun Chandhok

Chennai, Sep 19 (IANS) The 2011 Indian Grand Prix has a unique place in the history of Formula 1 racing and Indian motorsports.

It is the first and only Formula 1 Grand Prix which had two Indian drivers racing – Narain Karthikeyan for HRT team while Karun Chandhok represented Team Lotus. Both were test drivers for their respective teams and had stepped in regular drivers Jarno Trulli and Daniel Ricciardo.

From that eventful day when India had two drivers on the circuit, an Indian Grand Prix held at the Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida and an Indian team, Force India F1. Around a decade later, none of these things are there. Karthikeyan and Chandhok have retired from Formula 1, the Force India F1 team is defunct, there is not Indian Grand Prix and the Buddh Internation Circuit hosts occasional races.

There are some young Indian drivers Kush Maini, Jehan Daruvala are on the international circuit but nowhere close to the Formula 1.

Karun Chandhok, now a television commentator and a track consultant, says motorsports authorities need to fix the issue from the bottom so that India can one day have many drivers in the top echelons of the sport.

“The sport has changed a lot, obviously. You know, Narain and I were over a decade ago in Formula One, so it’s been a long time. It’s in the sport.

“But that’s, you know, gone away a little bit. And I think we have to fix the issue from bottom up,” Chandhok told IANS here on Thursday.

He believes that the country should build more race tracks, more karting circuits to attract drivers at young age, provide them with top-notch facilities and utilize the facilities to build an ecosystem for motorsports.

“That’s the reason we have built this karting circuits here at the Madras Motor Sports Club. This is the only Commission Internationale de Karting (CIK) certified kartink track and will start the kids at a young age,” said Chandhok.

Chandhok, the second Indian driver to race in Formula 1, said both he and Karthikeyan did not get to start on a kart due to lack of a circuit and that is the reason why they have built this global standard karting track in Chennai called the Madras International Karting Arena (MIKA).

Chandhok said this will make taking up motorsports more affordable as the talented kids will not have to travel abroad to start gokarting.

“If a youngster now has to go to say Malaysia or middle East, it costs a lots of money. But with MIKA here, it will be more affordable and we will also look to organise many competitions of international standard to build the karting ecosystem,’ said Karun Chandhok who has literally seen the track come alive from a drawing on his laptop to an actual track on ground. He currently works with race design company, Driven International, as a consultant for race tracks.

Now that they have put in the karting track in place and with more race tracks coming up in Bangalore and Pune, Karun Chandhok hopes more youngsters to benefit from the racing ecosystem to propel the country back to the top.

He wants the automotive industry to nurture the racing ecosystem and says though the government may not support motorsports like it does with other sports, it should not put barriers in its way and rather ease things for motorsports.

“I think at the end of the day, India is a country where we have a lot of socio economic issues which are more important than motor racing.

I think we have to be realistic. If the government is going to put money into sport, they will put it into Olympic sport or hockey, or badminton, or, you know, sports which really have a bigger mass appeal.

But I think the reality is in motor racing is different. And so that’s why I say it comes back to the automotive industry (that has to support motorsports in the country.

What we need and what we want is the government not to put any barriers. So, for example, even if they’re not investing money, if they can remove barriers for importing technology, importing cars, importing gokarts, importing helmets and equipment for the kids to use. If we can get duty waivers, if we can get customs clearance support, things like that are what the government can do to support the sport,” said Karun Chandhok.

India’s second Formula 1 driver also emphasised on sustaining the motorsports ecosystem so that it can put the country back on the global stage, just like when he and Narain Karthikeyan did during their heydays.

–IANS

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