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In the fast lane
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Ashwin Sundar has been making waves on the racing circuit. The youngster has been marked out as a talent for the future
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PHOTOS: S.S. KUMAR
MULTIFACETED Ashwin Sundar has demonstrated his talent both on four and two wheels
Ashwin Sundar has just become eligible to drive a vehicle on the roads. But he’s been driving cars and riding motorbikes on the race track for over five years now and the trophies keep piling in his cupboard. Sundar’s tryst with racing ve
hicles happened by chance. When he was 13 his dad took him go-karting at Palace Grounds. On that day there was a drag meet and Sundar decided to participate. He managed to convince the organisers that he could ride a bike, and after a trial run, the organisers permitted the him to ride. And to everyone’s surprise, he went on to win the race beating a number of racing stalwarts.
What followed was chaos and confusion. The beaten brigade protested that Ashwin did not have a licence to ride and was thus ineligible for the prize (a new motorcycle). The organisers of the event, bound by the rules, requested Sundar not to claim the prize. “Just participating in the drag and winning was reward enough,” he now recalls.
That moment of triumph kickstarted a passion for speed and he was soon granted a licence to drive go-karts. He showed his potential by bagging the title in the Intermediate Class in the MRF Formula Mondiale Championship Series in 2002 and 2003. In 2003, he earned the right to participate in the Dunlop (Karting) Series in Malaysia and ended with a podium finish.
By 2004 Sundar progressed to driving cars and became the youngest to be licensed to drive a FISSME (Formula Maruti Single Seater Car). The 800cc Formula LGB car is the stepping stone to the Indian Formula Car Racing Championship. “In 2004 I drove an Esteem in the Saloon Class and a 1.3-litre Formula LGB car. I finished fourth in the seven-round JK Tyre National Racing Championship in the higher Formula LGB series,” he says.
Sundar’s potential has been recognised internationally. He drives for the Malaysian company Petronas. His next target is to race in the Formula BMW Asian round with events in Japan, Indonesia, China, Malaysia and Thailand. This will entail an expense of around Rs. 65 lakhs and he hopes to land a sponsor. His father is a transporter for the Aditya Birla group and is sparing no expense to boost his son’s racing career. Even education has taken a back-seat though Sundar will be doing his 12th standard exams through the National Open School.
Sundar has had some good breaks till now. He impressed bigwigs in the Schwing Stetter company and has been sponsored by them. The Chairman of Schwing Stetter, Gerard Schwing, is a racing enthusiast and even participates in the Formula One race for veterans. He even has an indoor go-karting track in Harne near Dusseldorf and has provided funds for Sundar’s racing expenses. In India, he has support from the Indian operations of Schwing Stetter. Team Yamaha too has supported Ashwin for his bike racing events.
Like all motor-racing enthusiasts, Ashwin’s ultimate target is Formula One. But he will have to do the entire lead-up to F1 like his predecessors Narain Karthikeyan, Karun Chandhok and Armaan Ebrahim. He just needs to wait for his turn.
D. RAVI SHANKAR
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