Narain Karthikeyan

Narain Karthikeyan
Narain Karthikeyan
	Narain Karthikeyan during the 2007 A1GP at Brno Circuit
Nationality	Indian
Born	Kumar Ram Narain Karthikeyan; 14 January 1977 (age 47); Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India
Years active	1992 – present
Awards
	2010 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Most Popular Driver
Active years
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
2010 position
NASCAR Craftsman 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)
Years
24 Hours of Le Mans career
Years	2009
Teams	Kolles
Best finish	7th in LMP1 (2009)
Class wins	0

Kumar Ram Narain Karthikeyan (born 14 January 1977)^[1] is an Indian racing driver. He was the first Indian driver to compete in Formula One.^[2]

He has previously competed in A1GP, and the Le Mans Series. He has won multiple races in A1GP, British F3, World series by Nissan, AutoGP, Formula Asia, British Formula Ford & Opel series in his single-seater career. He won the British Formula Ford Winter Series in 1994 & Formula Asia Championship in 1996. He also finished fourth overall in British F3 in 2000 & the World Nissan series in 2003. He made his Formula One debut in 2005 with the Jordan team, and was a Williams F1 test driver in 2006 and 2007. Like several other former F1 drivers, Karthikeyan moved to stock car racing and drove the No. 60 Safe Auto Insurance Company Toyota Tundra for Wyler Racing in the 2010 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

In 2011, he returned to F1 with the HRT team, continued with the team in 2012 and was expected to drive for them in the 2013 season as well.

However, HRT was not included in the FIA's 2013 entry list, and thus Karthikeyan was left without a drive. From 2014–2018, Karthikeyan raced in Japanese Super Formula series.^[3] In 2019, he ended his single-seater career by joining Super GT series in Japan.

The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of Padma Shri in 2010.^[4]

^ "Narain Karthikeyan biography, Hispania Racing". HispaniaF1Team.com. 10 April 2011. Archived from the original on 6 September 2012.
^ Pande, Vinayak (16 March 2011). "Didn't want to spend my life thinking what if: Narain Karthikeyan". Hindustan Times. New Delhi: HT Media Limited. Archived from the original on 20 March 2011. Retrieved 15 March 2011.
^ "Narain Karthikeyan to race in 2014 Super Formula season". Daily News and Analysis. 5 February 2014.
^ "Padma Awards" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 October 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2015.

[1] "Narain Karthikeyan biography, Hispania Racing". HispaniaF1Team.com. 10 April 2011. Archived from the original on 6 September 2012.

[2] Pande, Vinayak (16 March 2011). "Didn't want to spend my life thinking what if: Narain Karthikeyan". Hindustan Times. New Delhi: HT Media Limited. Archived from the original on 20 March 2011. Retrieved 15 March 2011.

[3] "Narain Karthikeyan to race in 2014 Super Formula season". Daily News and Analysis. 5 February 2014.

[Padma_Awards-4] "Padma Awards" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 October 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2015.

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