Narain Karthikeyan

Kumar Ram Narain Karthikeyan is a racing driver. He was born on 14 January 1977 in Coimbatore, India. He is the first Formula One driver from India. He made his Formula One debut in 2005 with the Jordan team. In January 2011, he was signed to drive for the Hispania Racing team in the 2011 Formula One season.

Narain Karthikeyan
Karthikeyan at the 2011 Malaysian Grand Prix.
Nationality	Indian
Born	Kumar Ram Narain Karthikeyan (1977-01-14) 14 January 1977 Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India
Awards
2010 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Most Popular Driver
Formula One World Championship career Active years 2005, 2011–2012 Teams Jordan, HRT Entries 48 (46 starts) Championships 0 Wins 0 Podiums 0 Career points 5 Pole positions 0 Fastest laps 0 First entry 2005 Australian Grand Prix Last entry 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix
NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series career 9 races run over 1 year 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 Years 2009 Teams Kolles Best finish 7th in LMP1 (2009) Class wins 0

Early career

Karthikeyan was born to Telugu speaking parents in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. His father was a former Indian national rally champion. He is also related to the late S. Karivardhan. Karivardhan was India's most famous racing driver before Karthikeyan. Karthikeyan finished on the podium in his first ever race, at Sriperumpudur. He then went onto the Elf Winfield Racing School in France. He returned to India to race in Formula Maruti for the 1993 season. He also competed in the Formula Vauxhall Junior championship in Great Britain.

In 1994, Karthikeyan returned to the UK. He raced in the Formula Ford Zetec series. He also took part in the British Formula Ford Winter Series, and became the first Indian to win any championship in Europe.

In 1995, Karthikeyan moved up to the Formula Asia Championship. In 1996, he became the first Indian and the first Asian to win the Formula Asia International series. He moved back to Britain in 1997. There he competed in the British Formula Opel Championship with the Nemesis Motorsport team.

In 1998, Karthikeyan made his debut in the British Formula Three Championship with the Carlin Motorsport team. He earned two third place finishes in the final two races of the season, and finished 12th overall. In 1999, he finished on the podium five times, including two wins. His season also included two pole positions, three fastest laps and two lap records. Karthikeyan finished sixth in the championship. He also competed in the Macau Grand Prix.

Karthikeyan started 2001 in the Formula Nippon F3000 Championship. He became the first Indian to ever drive a Formula One car, testing for the Jaguar Racing team at Silverstone on 14 June 2001. Karthikeyan was offered a test drive in the Jordan-Honda

In 2002, he moved into the Telefonica World Series. He stayed with the series in 2003, which was now called the Superfund Word Series. Karthikeyan received another Formula One test drive with the Minardi team. He was offered a race drive for the 2004 season. Karthikeyan was unable to raise the sponsorship funds needed to complete the deal. During 2004, he married Pavarna.

He continued in the World Series by Nissan in 2004. Karthikeyan as won championships in 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. He said that he would be their main driver for the 2005 Formula One season. This would make him India's first Formula One racing driver. His partner was the Portuguese driver, Tiago Monteiro.

His first race was the 2005 Australian Grand Prix. Karthikeyan qualified in 12th position and finished in 15th, two laps down. He earned his first points in the 2005 United States Grand Prix. In that race, most of the teams pulled over an issue of tyre safety. Only six car ran in the race, and Karthikeyan finished fourth. Other than the USGP, his highest finish was 11th place.

The Jordan team was taken over and renamed Midland for the 2006 season. Karthikeyan left the new team. On 27 January 2006, Williams confirmed Karthikeyan as their fourth driver. He stayed as a reserve test driver for Williams for the 2006 season.

On 6 January 2011, Karthikeyan announced that he will drive for the Hispania team in the 2011 season, Karthikeyan confirmed the deal via his Twitter page. He said it would "be a dream come true to race in front of the home crowd in the Indian GP in October." He adding that the support of financial backers Tata Group had been "instrumental."

Other events

A1 GP

In the 2007 season, Karthikeyan drove for the 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.

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 team India's first A1GP win. He also earned the first pole position for India for the feature race in Brands Hatch in 2008. Karthikeyan won two feature races in the 2007-2008 season

The 24 Hours of Le Mans

In March 2009, Karthikeyan tested for the Kolles Le Mans Team. He joined the team, and was partnered with Christijan Albers. They drove Audi R10 turbo diesel cars. On 11 May 2009, Karthikeyan finished sixth in his first ever Le Mans series race.

NASCAR

Karthikeyan made his NASCAR debut at Martinsville Speedway on 27 March 2010 in the Kroger 250 Camping World Truck Series. He drove for Wyler Racing in the #60 Safe Auto Insurance Company Chevrolet Silverado. Because qualifying was rained out, the field set by owner points. Karthikeyan started in the 11th position. He became the first Indian-born driver to compete in NASCAR. Karthikeyan 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. This award is voted on by the fans.

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

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	F/Laps	Podiums	Points	Position
2005	Formula One	Jordan	19	0	0	0	0	5	18th
2006	Formula One	Williams	Test driver
2006-07	A1 Grand Prix	A1 Team India	10	0	0	0	0	13†	16th†
2007	Formula One	Williams	Test driver
2007-08	A1 Grand Prix	A1 Team India	18	2	1	0	2	61†	10th†
2008-09	A1 Grand Prix	A1 Team India	12	0	0	0	1	19†	12th†
2010	NASCAR Camping World Truck Series	Wyler Racing	9	0	0	NA	0	963	30th
2010	Superleague Formula	PSV Eindhoven	12	1	1	0	1	288†	16th†
2011	Formula One	Hispania	8	0	0	0	0	0*	25th*

^† Team results.
^* Season in progress.

• 2009: 24 Hours of Le Mans and Le Mans Series, Kolles Audi R10 TDI
• 2004: World Series by Nissan: Formula Nissan World Series (World Series by Nissan), 6th (TATA RC Motorsport)
• 2003: World Series by Nissan: Formula Nissan World Series (Superfund Word Series), 4th (Carlin Motorsport)
• 2002: World Series by Nissan: Formula Nissan World Series (Telefónica World Series), 9th (TATA RC Motorsport)
• 2001: Formula Nippon: 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 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	A1 Team 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 SPR 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

Complete Formula One results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	WDC	Points
2005	Jordan Grand Prix	Jordan EJ15	Toyota RVX-05 3.0 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 2.4 V8	AUS DNQ	MAL Ret	CHN 23	TUR 21	ESP 21	MON 17	CAN 17	EUR 24	GBR												26th	0
	HRT Formula 1 Team												GER TD	HUN	BEL	ITA	SIN TD	JPN TD	KOR TD	IND 17	ABU	BRA
2012	HRT Formula 1 Team	HRT F112	Cosworth CA2012 2.4 V8	AUS DNQ	MAL 22	CHN 22	BHR 21	ESP Ret	MON 15	CAN Ret	EUR 18	GBR 21	GER 23	HUN Ret	BEL Ret	ITA 19	SIN Ret	JPN Ret	KOR 20	IND 21	ABU Ret	USA 22	BRA 18	24th	0

^* Season in progress.

Other websites

• The official website for Narain Karthikeyan Archived 2021-01-26 at the Wayback Machine