Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Indian Motorsport Heroes of 2015

CS Santosh

While 2015 has been a good year for the Indian automotive industry as far as car and bikes are concerned, these skilful gentlemen have also successfully managed to put India on the map in the world of motorsports:

1. C S Santosh

Karnataka-based C S Santosh dared to dream of participating in Dakar, and his dream came true earlier this year. From pedalling his bicycle as fast as his legs could to winning Raid de Himalaya, C S Santosh has come a long way. But this year, he took his career a step forward by participating in the 2015 Dakar. With India struggling to host Formula 1 which stands at the pinnacle of all motorsport activities, it is difficult to make a career in motorsport in India. And even more so in off-road racing. But C S Santosh has led by example and inspired the young India to believe by making ends meet and by becoming the first Indian to participate in the Dakar Rally. In his first ever Dakar, Santosh started in 85th place out of 160 riders. By the end of stage 2 he had already made up 35 places and climbed up to 50th. Despite injuring both his shoulders and fracturing his left toe, Santosh continued his 2015 campaign and finally finished in a highly commendable 36th place. C S Santosh is all set to participate in the 2016 Dakar which commences on 3rd January.

Armaan Ebrahim

2. Armaan Ebrahim

2015 was a year of many firsts in the Indian motorsport scene. Along with C S Santosh, Armaan Ebrahim too created history by wrapping the 2015 Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo Asia Series in second place along with Sri Lankan team-mate Dilantha Malagamuwa. After a few rough seasons in multiple sports car series, Armaan moved to the Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo Asia Series this year. Here too he had several issues bogging him down but consistent performances throughout the season ensured that he brought home second at the end of the championship.

K Rajni

3. K Rajni

National two-wheeler Racing Champion Rajini Krishnan took the fight across borders this year and tasted tremendous success. The Chennai-lad stood first in the inaugural Pirelli Malaysia Superbike Championship (MSC) with 143 points. The final round of the championship at Sepang saw some tough competition from former Moto2 rider Muhammad Zaqhwan Zaidi. Despite taking top honours in both the races of Round 5 Zaidi could only gather 140 points and remained three points short of K Rajini. This is Rajini's third international championship having secured the Malaysian Super Series (150cc) in 2006 and the Losail Asian road racing championship (600cc) in 2013.

Gautam Singhani

4. Gautam Singhania

C S Santosh, Armaan Ebrahim and K Rajini have all dedicated their entire lives to motorsport. Gautam Singhania though is different. The noted Indian industrialist is a hardcore petrolhead who loves to race to fuel his passion. Singhania became the first Indian driver to participate in the Ferrari Challenge Europe Championship 2015. He scored twin podiums in the opening round at Monza in April and from then on he produced consistent results to take second place in the overall championship. What's more, the noted industrialist also became the first Indian to win the Ferrari Challenge as he secured the top spot in Race 1 of the final round.



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