Davit Kajaia

Davit "Data" Kajaia (; born 10 January 1984 in Tbilisi) is a Georgian racing driver, best known for winning the Legends Euro Nations Cup in 2012 and 2013. He currently drives for the MIA Force team in the Georgian Circuit Championship.

Career

Kajaia started his career in the Georgian Speed Slalom series in 2004. The next season, he achieved third place at the wheel of BMW M3, and won the national title a year later. In 2007, Kajaia entered the national circuit racing series and finished third in the championship, driving a Honda Civic 1600. On the same car, he came third overall in the national rally series. In 2010 and 2011, he dominated in Georgian pair racing championship. After the reconstruction of the only Georgian race track Rustavi in 2011, Kajaia joined one of a newly established national teams, the MIA Force, sponsored by the national Ministry of Internal Affairs and won his first Legends race after a closely fought battle with more experienced rivals from Russia. In 2012, Kajaia continued driving in the Georgian Legends championship and also contested Europe Nations Cup of the same category. He finished second in the homeland series and won the Europe cup. In 2013, he took the national title, still dominating in Europe, and was awarded by the minister of internal affairs Irakli Garibashvili.

In 2014, Kajaia continued in domestic championship and also won European Legends SuperCup.

In 2015, Kajaia entered the European Touring Car Cup series (ETCC) with the TC2T class BMW 320 Engstler team. During the first race of the opening round on Hungaroring, Kajaia was on his way to a shock win against the dominant Seat Leon Cup class cars in his inferior BMW but a mistake on a last lap relegated him to second overall. Nevertheless, Kajaia won in his TC2T class convincingly in both races. During the second round on Slovakiaring, Kajaia also won both races in TC2T class and came second overall in a second race, beating all but one Seat Leon Cup cars. Kajaia also scored the fastest lap of the race. Kajaia continued his successful campaign in France and Czech Republic on Paul Ricard and Brno circuits respectively by winning all races in TC2T and being in top-three across the line against dominant Seat Single Make Trophy cars in all races. He led the second race against Seats in Brno but could not hold on to his lead due to power disadvantage of his TC2T class car on uphill sections of the track and had to settle for third across the line (nevertheless he won in the TC2T class dully). Kajaia suggested after the race that he might have won outright had he not left his rain settings on after the early shower.

Kajaia's winning streak was interrupted on Zolder, in Belgium where he took pole position on the wet track and led the whole race 1 before a mechanical failure denied him the win three laps from the end. During the second race Kajaia went off the track and had to settle for second in TC2T. For the last round in Pergusa, Italy, he also had to compete against Franz Engstler (owner of his team) in a sister BMW TC2T. During the first race he chased Petr Fulin in a Seat for the win but could not close in sufficiently to attack the Czech driver in a superior single make machinery. His win in TC2T was enough to secure him the 2015 title regardless of the results of the second race. During the second race both Engstler Motorsport cars made an excellent start from a reversed grid. After a couple of overtakes, Kajaia came second overall behind Engstler's leading TC2T BMW. Kajaia pushed his teammate hard, closing down on the German and putting pressure on him for the last several laps but could not find the way past and had to settle for second. Kajaia received his ETCC trophy during the FIA 2015 Motorsport awards held in December 2015.

Racing record Career highlights Season Series Car Position 2005 Speed Slalom Championship of Georgia BMW M3 3 2006 Speed Slalom Championship of Georgia BMW M3 1 Pair Racing Series BMW M3 1 2007 Speed Slalom Championship of Georgia BMW M3 1 Pair Racing Series BMW M3 2 Circuit Racing Championship of Georgia Honda Civic 1600 3 Rally Championship of Georgia Honda Civic 1600 3 Georgian Race of Champions Honda Civic 1600 2 2008 Pair Racing Rompetrol Cup Honda Civic 1600 3 Circuit Racing Championship of Georgia Honda Civic 1600 3 2009 Pair Racing BMW M3 1 Speed Slalom BMW M3 3 2010 Pair Racing BMW M3 1 Drift King 2010 BMW M3 2 Rustavi Pair Racing Super Finals BMW M3 1 2011 Pair Racing BMW M3 1 Speed Slalom BMW M3 3 Pair Racing Rompetrol Cup BMW M3 2 Pair Racing Gulf Cup BMW M3 2 Rustavi Motorpark Pre-Opening Race Legends 1 2012 Hill Climb BMW M3 3 Pair Racing BMW M3 1 Bridgestone Black Sea Cup BMW M3 2 Circuit Racing Championship of Georgia Legends 2 Euro Nations Cup Legends 1 2013 Circuit Racing Championship of Georgia Legends 1 Euro Nations Cup Legends 1 2014 Circuit Racing Championship of Georgia Legends 2 European SuperCup Legends 1 2015 European Touring Car Cup BMW 320 TC 1

Racing career summary † As Kajaia was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points.

Complete European Touring Car Cup results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate the fastest lap) Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 DC Points 2015 Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TC TC2 T HUN1 HUN1 SVK1 SVK2 LEC1 LEC2 BRN1 BRN2 ZOL1 ZOL2 PER1 PER2 1st 149

Complete TCR International Series results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) † Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 75% of the race distance.

Complete TCR Europe Touring Car Series results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 DC Points 2019 PCR Sport With Georgia CUPRA León TCR HUN1 HUN2 HOC1 HOC2 SPA1 SPA2 RBR1 RBR2 OSC1 OSC2 CAT1 CAT2 MNZ1 MNZ2 23rd 52 2024 GOAT Racing Honda Civic Type R TCR (FL5) VAL1 VAL2 ZOL1 ZOL2 SAL1 SAL2 SPA1 SPA2 BRN1 BRN2 CRT1 CRT2 NC‡ 0‡ † Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance. ‡ As Kajaia was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points.

Complete NASCAR results Euro Series – EuroNASCAR PRO (key) (Bold – Pole position. Italics – Fastest lap. * – Most laps led. ^ – Most positions gained) NASCAR Euro Series – EuroNASCAR PRO results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Pts 2025 Marko Stipp Motorsport 48 Chevy ESP ESP 13th 366 Team Georgia by RDV 9 ITA ITA GBR GBR CZE CZE GER GER BEL BEL