Narain Karthikeyan

Narain Karthikeyan

Karthikeyan at the 2011 Malaysian Grand Prix.
Born	14 January 1977 (1977-01-14) (age 34)
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	Indian
Team	HRT-Cosworth
Car #	22
Races	28 (27 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	5
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First race	2005 Australian Grand Prix
Last race	2011 Indian Grand Prix
2005 position	18th (5 pts)

NASCAR career
Awards	2010 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Most Popular Driver
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career
9 races run over 1 years
2010 position	30th
First race	2010 Kroger 250 - (Martinsville)
Last race	2010 Mountain Dew 250 - Talladega
Wins Top tens Poles 0 0 0

24 Hours of Le Mans career
Participating years	2009
Teams	Kolles
Best finish	7th in LMP1 (2009)
Class wins	0

Kumar Ram Narain Karthikeyan (Tamil: குமார் ராம் நாராயண் கார்த்திகேயன்; born 14 January 1977, in Madras^[1]), is the first Formula One motor racing driver from India.^[2] He has previously competed in A1GP, and the Le Mans Series. He made his Formula One debut in 2005 with the Jordan team, and was a WilliamsF1 test driver in 2006 and 2007. Like several other former F1 drivers, Karthikeyan moved to stock car racing and drove the #60 Safe Auto Insurance Company Toyota Tundra for Wyler Racing in the 2010 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. In 2011 he has driven for the Hispania Racing team in Formula One.

Early career

Karthikeyan was born in Madras, Tamil Nadu. Karthikeyan did his schooling at Stanes Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School in Coimbatore. Karthikeyan's interest in motorsport began at an early age, as his father was a former Indian national rally champion winning South India Rally seven times. He is also related to the late S. Karivardhan, India's most famous racing driver until Karthikeyan came along. With the ambition of becoming India's first Formula One driver, Karthikeyan finished on the podium in his first ever race, at Sriperumpudur in a Formula Maruti (a.k.a.FISSME). He then went onto the Elf Winfield Racing School in France, showing his talent by becoming a semi-finalist in the Pilote Elf Competition for Formula Renault cars in 1992. He returned to India to race in Formula Maruti for the 1993 season, and in the same year, he also competed in the Formula Vauxhall Junior championship in Great Britain. This gave him valuable experience in European racing, and he was keen to return for the following year.

In 1994, he returned to the UK, racing in the Formula Ford Zetec series as the number two works Vector driver for the Foundation Racing team. The highlight of the season was a podium finish in a support race for the Portuguese Grand Prix held at Estoril. Karthikeyan also took part in the British Formula Ford Winter Series, and became the first Indian to win any championship in Europe.

In 1995, Karthikeyan graduated to the Formula Asia Championship for just four races. However, he showed pace immediately and was able to finish second in the race at Shah Alam, Malaysia. In 1996, he had a full season in the series and became the first Indian and the first Asian to win the Formula Asia International series. He moved back to Britain in 1997 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.

In 1998, Karthikeyan made his debut in the British Formula Three Championship with the Carlin Motorsport team. Competing in only 10 rounds, he managed two third place finishes in the final two races of the season, at Spa-Francorchamps and Silverstone, to finish 12th overall. He continued in the championship for 1999, finishing on the podium five times, including two wins at Brands Hatch. His season also included two pole positions, three fastest laps and two lap records, helping him to sixth in the championship. He also competed in the Macau Grand Prix, qualifying in sixth position and finishing sixth in the second race. Continuing his drive in the British F3 Championship in 2000, he finished fourth overall in the standings, and also took pole position and fastest laps in the Macau Grand Prix. He also won both the International F3 race at Spa-Francorchamps and the Korea Super Prix.

Karthikeyan started 2001 in the Formula Nippon F3000 Championship, finishing the year amongst the top ten. In the same year, he became the first Indian to ever drive a Formula One car, testing for the Jaguar Racing team at Silverstone on 14 June. Impressed with his performance, he was then offered a test drive in the Jordan-Honda EJ11 at Silverstone in September. Karthikeyan again tested for Jordan, at Mugello in Italy on 5 October, finishing just half a second off the pace off Jordan's lead driver Jean Alesi.

In 2002, he moved into the Telefonica World Series with Team Tata RC Motorsport, taking a pole position and setting the fastest non-Formula One lap time at the Interlagos Circuit in Brazil. Continuing in the renamed Superfund Word Series in 2003, Karthikeyan won two races and took three other podium positions on his way to fourth overall in the championship. These results earned him another Formula One test drive, this time with the Minardi team. He was offered a race drive for the 2004 season, but was unable to raise the necessary sponsorship funds to seal the deal. During the year, he married Pavarna.

He continued in the Nissan World Series, renamed "World Series by Nissan", in 2004, taking wins in Valencia, Spain and Magny-Cours, France.

Teams: Carlin Motorsport, RC Motorsport, Team Impul, Williams F1 Team, Jordan Toyota

Championships: British Formula 3, Formula Nippon, Formula Nissan (now merged as Formula Renault)

Formula One career

Karthikeyan locking his brakes during qualifying at the 2005 United States Grand Prix

On 1 February 2005, Karthikeyan announced that he had signed the preliminary deal with Jordan Formula One team and said that he would be their main driver for the 2005 Formula One season, thus making him India's first Formula One racing driver. His partner was the Portuguese driver, Tiago Monteiro. Karthikeyan completed the necessary testing distance of 300 km in an F1 car in order to gain his superlicence at the Silverstone Circuit on 10 February.

In his first race, the Australian Grand Prix, Karthikeyan qualified in 12th position. After a poor start which saw him drop to 18th place by the end of the first lap, Karthikeyan finished in 15th, two laps behind winner Giancarlo Fisichella. He achieved his first points in the 2005 United States Grand Prix under farcical circumstances as all but three teams pulled out due to an argument over tyre safety. Karthikeyan finished fourth, finishing ahead of the two Minardi drivers but behind team mate Monteiro. Apart from the USGP, Karthikeyan's highest finish was 11th place. In the 2005 Japanese Grand Prix free practice, he was fastest for a long period of time and eventually qualified 11th. At the 2005 Chinese Grand Prix he qualified in 15th place, very close in times to many of the top teams. In an unlucky end to his 2005 season, Karthikeyan crashed his Jordan into a wall at the Chinese race, but was unhurt and able to provide an interview afterwards.

Because the Jordan team was taken over and renamed Midland for the 2006 season, the management change prompted some doubt over Karthikeyan's future at the team. Near the end of 2005, Karthikeyan announced he would not be driving for Midland the following year allegedly due to their demand that he pay as much as USD 11.7 million to secure his seat on the team. He mentioned that "anyway, being a test driver in a good car will allow me to showcase my skills better". On 8 December 2005, Karthikeyan tested for Williams at Spain and finished a respectable fifth, outpacing the confirmed Williams second driver, Nico Rosberg in the FW27C chassis, who finished ninth. On 27 January 2006, Williams confirmed Karthikeyan as their fourth driver.^[3] He was to perform testing duties for the team alongside Alexander Wurz who had been confirmed earlier as the team's third driver. He was retained as a reserve test driver for Williams alongside Kazuki Nakajima in 2007.^[4] Karthikeyan said he was blown away by the difference between Formula One's stragglers and a top flight team.^[5]

Karthikeyan driving for Hispania at the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Later in 2007, he was linked with the Spyker (previously Jordan) Formula One team after their driver Christijan Albers was fired,^[6] although Sakon Yamamoto got the drive. Due to the withdrawal of support from Tata (Karthikeyan's main sponsor) of Williamsf1, Nakajima was given the lion's share of testing duties and Karthikeyan was sidelined.

When the Spyker F1 team was bought out by Vijay Mallya towards the end of 2007, Karthikeyan had been linked with a drive with the new Force India Formula One team in 2008. However, Karthikeyan did not even get to test for the team. Karthikeyan was also linked to a drive with the Super Aguri team in January 2008, as one of the terms of an Indian consortium investing in the team. The deal was not agreed and he continued to drive for A1 Team India. Karthikeyan was India's only Formula One driver until the 2010 season, when Karun Chandhok signed to drive for the Hispania Racing F1 Team.^[7]

On 6 January 2011, Karthikeyan announced that he would drive for the Hispania team in the 2011 season,^[8] following five years away from active involvement in the championship. Karthikeyan confirmed the deal via his Twitter page, saying it would "be a dream come true to race in front of the home crowd in the Indian GP in October," and adding that the support of financial backers Tata Group had been "instrumental."^[9]

An unfortunate consequence of driving for such an uncompetitive team, along with the increasing reliability of modern Formula 1 cars, meant that Karthikeyan twice set the record for the lowest placed finisher in a Formula 1 event.^[10] The first occurrence was during the Chinese Grand Prix where the single retirement of Jaime Alguersuari meant Karthikeyan finished in 23rd place, after he was overtaken by teammate Vitantonio Liuzzi on the final lap. However, in the European Grand Prix there were no retirements meaning that Karthikeyan once again broke the record by being the 24th car to cross the finish line.

On 30 June 2011, Karthikeyan was replaced by Daniel Ricciardo for the remaining races of the season except the Indian Grand Prix^[11][12] but participated in Friday first practice in Germany, Singapore, Japan and Korea.

On 23 October 2011, it was confirmed that Karthikeyan would replace Liuzzi for the Indian Grand Prix.^[13] Karthikeyan was outqualifed by 0.022 secs to qualify 22nd,^[14] however he started 24th and last due to blocking Michael Schumacher in qualifying.^[15] Despite picking up damage in the first lap of the race,^[16] Karthikeyan managed to beat Ricciardo by 31.8 seconds in the race to finish 17th.^[17] Liuzzi returned to replace Karthikeyan ahead of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.^[18]

Other Events and Races

IRL Test

In 2005, Karthikeyan tested an Indy Racing League (IRL) car for Red Bull Cheever Racing team for the Indianapolis 500 race and was offered half a million US dollars as initial fee, but the deal was not completed.^{[citation needed]}

A1 GP

In 2007 season Karthikeyan also drove for A1 Team India. He made his A1 GP debut in New Zealand and he finished 10th in the sprint race and 7th in the Feature Race.^[19]

Karthikeyan competing for A1 Team India at the 2008–09 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, South Africa.

Karthikeyan won the A1GP of Zhuhai (China) for Team India on 16 December 2007. This was India's first A1GP win.^[20] Karthikeyan is also the first to take pole position for India in the A1GP. He got pole in the feature race in Brands Hatch in 2008. Karthikeyan won two feature races in the 2007-2008 season, including the season finale at Brands Hatch starting from pole position. This helped India finish in the top ten, ahead of such as Australia, Brazil, China and Italy.

The 4th season for Team India was disastrous as the team lost its title sponsor. On 3 May 2009 A1 Team India finished the season with a podium finish in the Sprint Race at Brands Hatch. Karthikeyan qualified the A1 Team India car in 7th place on the starting grid for the race. The Feature Race ended abruptly for Karthikeyan, as he was taken out by the spinning car of A1 Team China in front of him on the first corner of the first lap.^[21]

The team finished 12th overall in the 2008-09 season.^[22]

The 24 Hours of Le Mans

In the second week of March 2009, Karthikeyan tested for the Kolles Le Mans Team. It was later confirmed that for the 2009 season, he will be partnered by Christijan Albers. Team Kolles - headed by ex-Force India Team Principal Colin Kolles - will be taking part in the championship with two Audi R10 turbo diesel machines. The car boasts a successful racing history with three Le Mans 24h victories and 22 individual race wins to its name. Team Kolles joins the championship for the first time in 2009.^[23][24][25]

On 11 May 2009, Karthikeyan finished sixth in his first ever Le Mans series race while driving for the Kolles Audi team in the second round of the 2009 championship held at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium.^[26]

On 14 June 2009 Karthikeyan dislocated his shoulder in a fall just before the start of the race. He had come up with strong performances in the practice and the qualifying, and was scheduled to do the opening double stint. At 1:00 am the ACO organisation declared him unsuitable to drive, even though the Audi doctor approved it.^[27]

NASCAR

Karthikeyan made his NASCAR debut at Martinsville Speedway on 27 March 2010 driving in the Kroger 250 Camping World Truck Series for Wyler Racing in the #60 Safe Auto Insurance Company Chevrolet Silverado. Qualifying was rained out and the field set by 2009 owner points, putting the first Indian-born driver to compete in NASCAR in the 11th starting spot. After a slow start and coming to grips with driving a race truck and racing on an American oval short track for the first time, Karthikeyan did manage to put in a very respectable effort and finished on the lead lap in 13th place. Karthikeyan went on to win the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Most Popular Driver Award for the 2010 season which was voted by the fans, becoming the first foreign-born driver to win the award. Karthikeyan has praised the new developments in riding driver's rear bumpers.

Superleague Formula

Narain drove for the PSV team in SFL in 2010. He won the 2nd race at Brands Hatch, Great Britain.

Racing record

Career summary

• 2011: Formula One World Championship HRT, 26th (0 points) (season in progress)
• 2010: Superleague Formula - PSV Eindhoven, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series - Starbeast Motorsports, Wyler Racing
• 2009: A1GP World championship A1 Team India, 2nd place at British GP at Brands Hatch
• 2009: 24 Hours of Le Mans and Le Mans Series, Kolles Audi R10 TDI
• 2008: A1GP World Championship A1 Team India, Winner British GP, Brands Hatch.
• 2007: A1GP World Championship A1 Team India, Winner Chinese GP
• 2007: Formula One World Championship Williams F1 Team, Test Driver
• 2006: Formula One World Championship Williams F1 Team, Test Driver
• 2005: Formula One World Championship Jordan, 18th (5pts)
• 2004: Formula Nissan World Series (World Series by Nissan), 6th (TATA RC Motorsport)
• 2003: Formula Nissan World Series (Superfund Word Series), 4th (Carlin Motorsport)
• 2002: Formula Nissan World Series (Telefónica World Series), 9th (TATA RC Motorsport)
• 2001: Formula Nippon, 14th (Team Impul)
• 2000: British Formula 3, 4th (Stewart)
• 1999: British Formula 3, 6th (Carlin Motorsport)
• 1998: British Formula 3, 12th (Carlin Motorsport)
• 1997: British Formula Vauxhall, 8th
• 1996: Formula Asia, Champion
• 1995: Formula Asia (4 races)
• 1994: British Formula Ford Winter Series, Champion
• 1993: Indian Formula Maruti + British Formula Vauxhall Junior
• 1992: ELF Winfield Racing School, Circuit Paul Ricard, France won debut race Pilote Elf Competition for Formula Renault.

Complete Formula One results

(key)

Yr	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	WDC	Points
2005	Jordan Grand Prix	Jordan EJ15	Toyota RVX-05 V10	AUS 15	MAL 11	BHR Ret	SMR 12	ESP 13	MON Ret	EUR 16	CAN Ret	USA 4	FRA 15	GBR Ret	GER 16	HUN 12	TUR 14	ITA 20					18th	5
		Jordan EJ15B																	BEL 11	BRA 15	JPN 15	CHN Ret
2011	Hispania Racing F1 Team	Hispania F111	Cosworth CA2011 V8	AUS DNQ	MAL Ret	CHN 23	TUR 21	ESP 21	MON 17	CAN 17	EUR 24	GBR	GER TD	HUN	BEL	ITA	SIN TD	JPN TD	KOR TD	IND 17	ABU	BRA	26th*	0*

^* Season in progress.

Complete A1 Grand Prix results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	DC	Points
2006–07	India	NED SPR	NED FEA	CZE SPR	CZE FEA	CHN SPR	CHN FEA	MYS SPR	MYS FEA	IDN SPR	IDN FEA	NZL SPR 10	NZL FEA 7	AUS SPR	AUS FEA	RSA SPR 15	RSA FEA 9	MEX SPR 11	MEX FEA 18	CHN SPR 7	CHN FEA 17	GBR SPR 7	GBR SPR 4	16th	13
2007–08		NED SPR 10	NED FEA Ret	CZE SPR 21	CZE FEA 9	MYS SPR 11	MYS FEA 6	CHN SPR 7	CHN FEA 1	NZL SPR 10	NZL FEA Ret	AUS SPR 11	AUS FEA 11	RSA SPR	RSA FEA	MEX SPR 13	MEX FEA 9	CHN SPR 5	CHN FEA 7	GBR SPR 5	GBR SPR 1			10th	61
2008–09		NED SPR	NED FEA	CHN SPR 10	CHN FEA 10	MYS SPR Ret	MYS FEA Ret	NZL SPR 9	NZL FEA 7	RSA SPR 6	RSA FEA 12	POR SPR 6	POR FEA 11	GBR SPR 2	GBR FEA Ret									12th	19

Superleague Formula

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Operator	1			2			3			4			5			6			7			8			9			10			11			12			Position	Points
2010	PSV Eindhoven	Racing for Holland	SIL			ASS			MAG			JAR			NÜR			ZOL			BRH			ADR			POR			ORD			BEI			NAV			16th	288
			12	15	X	13	9	X				11	15	X	13	16	X	10	14	X	18	1	X

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Class	No	Tyres	Car	Team	Co-Drivers	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2009	LMP1	14	M	Audi R10 TDI Audi TDI 5.5L Turbo V12 (Diesel)	Kolles	Charles Zwolsman, Jr. André Lotterer	369	7th	7th

References

1. ^ "Narain Karthikeyan biography, Hispania Racing". HispaniaF1Team.com. 10 April 2011. http://www.hispaniaf1team.com/en/team/narain-karthikeyan. 
2. ^ Pande, Vinayak (2011-03-16). "Didn't want to spend my life thinking what if: Narain Karthikeyan". Hindustan Times (New Delhi: HT Media Limited). http://www.hindustantimes.com/Didn-t-want-to-spend-my-life-thinking-what-if-Narain-Karthikeyan/Article1-673902.aspx. Retrieved 2011-03-15. 
3. ^ "Williams Confirms Narain Karthikeyan". NewsOnF1.com. 27 January 2006. http://newsonf1.net/2006/news/01/jan27w.htm. Retrieved 4 May 2006. 
4. ^ "Williams retain Karthikeyan for 2007". 28 September 2006. http://www.formula1.com/news/5017.html. Retrieved 28 September 2006. ^{[dead link]}
5. ^ "Karthikeyan 'Blown away' by F1 contrast". F1racing.net. 12 December 2006. http://newsonf1.net/2006/news/01/jan27w.htm. Retrieved 24 October 2006. 
6. ^ "Karthikeyan versus Piquet for Spyker". grandprix.com. 10 July 2007. http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns19398.html. Retrieved 12 July 2007. 
7. ^ Noble, Jonathan (4 March 2010). "Chandhok announced as HRT driver". autosport.com (Haymarket Publications). http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/81842. Retrieved 4 March 2010. 
8. ^ Noble, Jonathan (6 January 2011). "Karthikeyan signs race deal with HRT". autosport.com (Haymarket Publications). http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/88821. Retrieved 6 January 2011. 
9. ^ Weeks, Jimmy (6 January 2011). "KARTHIKEYAN LANDS HISPANIA DRIVE FOR 2011". F1Badger.com (BadgerGP). http://www.f1badger.com/2011/01/karthikeyan-lands-hispania-drive-for-2011/. Retrieved 6 January 2011. 
10. ^ "European Grand Prix from the pit lane". BBC. 26 June 2011. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/13921387.stm. Retrieved 26 June 2011. 
11. ^ "Hispania confirms Daniel Ricciardo will race for it from Silverstone". Autosport. 30 June 2011. http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/92740. 
12. ^ "Karthikeyan to race in India for HRT". Formula1.com. 17 September 2011. http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2011/9/12539.html. 
13. ^ "Karthikeyan to replace Liuzzi for Indian GP". ManipeF1.com. 23 October 2011. http://www.manipef1.com/news/articles/12708/. 
14. ^ "2011 Airtel Formula 1 Grand Prix of India Qualifying Results". Formula1.com. 29 October 2011. http://www.formula1.com/results/season/2011/863/6938/. 
15. ^ Elizalde, Pablo (29 October 2011). "Karthikeyan penalised for impeding Schumacher during qualifying". Autosport (Haymarket Publications). http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/95760. Retrieved 9 November 2011. 
16. ^ "Karthikeyan proved his worth at the Indian Grand Prix 2011". aaformula1.com. 30 October 2011. http://www.aaformula1.com/2011/10/karthikeyan-proved-his-worth-at-indian.html. 
17. ^ "2011 Airtel Formula 1 Grand Prix of India Race (Timing Archive)". Formula1.com. 30 October 2011. http://www.formula1.com/results/season/2011/863/6939/live_timing_popup.html. 
18. ^ "Liuzzi braces for ‘tricky’ Yas circuit". Gulfnews.com. 8 November 2011. http://gulfnews.com/sport/motorsport/liuzzi-braces-for-tricky-yas-circuit-1.925642. 
19. ^ "With change of heart, Narain says yes to A-1". Hindustan Times.com. 16 January 2007. http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1902102,00070011.htm. Retrieved 17 January 2007. 
20. ^ http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/159637.html
21. ^ http://www.a1teamindia.in/displayArticle.php?id=107&PHPSESSID=e3c8d397a0a4d6013e7c8dd55a4fe998
22. ^ http://www.a1teamindia.in/inner.php?id=70&tid=4
23. ^ "Karthikeyan invited to Kolles Le Mans test". GPUpdate.net. 4 March 2009. http://www.gpupdate.net/en/f1-news/207721/karthikeyan-invited-to-kolles-le-mans-test/. Retrieved 31 January 2011. 
24. ^ "Albers signs with Kolles Le Mans team". GPUpdate.net. 1 April 2009. http://www.gpupdate.net/en/le-mans-series-news/209343/albers-signs-with-kolles-le-mans-team/. Retrieved 31 January 2011. 
25. ^ http://www.planetlemans.com/2009/03/31/team-kolles-confirms-drivers-and-audi-r10-livery/
26. ^ http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090512/jsp/sports/story_10950591.jsp
27. ^ http://www.f1technical.net/news/12640

External links

• Official website
• Narain Karthikeyan at Racing Reference

Achievements
Preceded by Ricky Carmichael	NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Most Popular Driver 2010	Succeeded by Incumbent

Persondata
Name	Karthikeyan, Narain
Alternative names
Short description	Indian race car driver
Date of birth	14 January 1977
Place of birth	Madras, Tamil Nadu, India
Date of death
Place of death