Narain Karthikeyan

Kumar Ram Narain Karthikeyan (; born 14 January 1977) is an Indian former racing driver, who competed in Formula One between and .

Early life and family background Karthikeyan was born on 14 January 1977 in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, to Sheela and Kakarla Karthikeyan Naidu. He has an elder sister, Deepika and younger brother, Rajeev. He did his schooling at Stanes Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School in Coimbatore. His interest in motorsport began at an early age, as his father Karthikeyan was a former Indian national rally champion winning South India Rally seven times.

Karthikeyan went on the Elf Winfield Racing School in France, and became a semi-finalist in the Pilote Elf Competition for Formula Renault cars in 1992.

Early career Karthikeyan finished on the podium in his first race at Sriperumbudur in a Formula Maruti National racing championship. Then, he went to France and attended the Elf Winfield Racing School. He returned to India to race in Formula Maruti for the 1993 season at the age of 15 years, His partner was 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, he finished in 15th, two laps behind winner Giancarlo Fisichella. He achieved his only points in the 2005 United States Grand Prix, where all but three teams pulled out due to an argument over tyre safety. He finished fourth, finishing ahead of the two Minardi drivers but behind teammate Monteiro. Apart from the USGP, his highest finish was 11th place. In the 2005 Japanese Grand Prix free practice, he was fastest for a long period and eventually qualified 11th. At the 2005 Chinese Grand Prix he qualified in 15th place. 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, he announced he would not be driving for Midland the following year allegedly due to their demand that he pay as much as $11.7 million to secure his seat on the team.

On 8 December 2005, Karthikeyan tested for Williams at Spain and finished fifth, outpacing the confirmed Williams second driver, Nico Rosberg, who finished ninth. On 27 January 2006, Williams confirmed Karthikeyan as their fourth driver. 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. Karthikeyan said he was "blown away" by the difference between Formula One's stragglers and a top-flight team.

Karthikeyan was a Williams F1 test driver in and .

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.

HRT (2011–2012)

Later in 2007, Karthikeyan was linked with the Spyker (previously Jordan) Formula One team after their driver Christijan Albers was fired, although Sakon Yamamoto got the drive. Due to the withdrawal of support of Williams F1 by Tata (Karthikeyan's main sponsor), 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, he did not even get to test for the team. He 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. He was India's only Formula One driver until the 2010 season, when Karun Chandhok signed to drive for the Hispania Racing F1 Team.

2011

On 6 January 2011, Karthikeyan announced that he would drive for the Hispania team in the season, following five years away from active involvement in the championship. He 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".

Driving for a small 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. 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 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. Karthikeyan was outqualifed by Ricciardo by 0.022 secs to qualify 22nd. However, Karthikeyan started 24th and last due to blocking Michael Schumacher in qualifying. Despite picking up damage in the first lap of the race, Karthikeyan managed to beat Ricciardo by 31.8 seconds in the race to finish 17th. Liuzzi returned to replace Karthikeyan ahead of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

2012

Karthikeyan driving for HRT at the 2012 Malaysian Grand Prix.

On 3 February 2012, it was confirmed that Karthikeyan had again signed for the HRT team for the 2012 season partnering Pedro de la Rosa. In the Australian Grand Prix, he and teammate Pedro de la Rosa were unable to qualify. In Malaysia, both the HRTs managed to qualify, with Karthikeyan starting 23rd due to a five-place gear box penalty for Heikki Kovalainen, the start was wet and the HRTs gambled to start the race on full wet tyres, whilst the other cars started on intermediate tyres. As the rain increased that gamble paid off as other cars had to pit for full wets which promoted Karthikeyan to a points-paying tenth place before the safety car then red flag came out for heavy rain. At the restart, after a few more laps behind the safety car, the track was dry enough for intermediate tyres and a few drivers pitted as the safety car came back in, however Karthikeyan stayed out and was as high as fifth place at one point, before McLaren's Jenson Button crashed into him whilst they were racing for position. Karthikeyan suffered damage however, but he pitted for intermediate tyres which dropped him to the back of the field, bar teammate de la Rosa who had a served a drive-through penalty. On lap 47, Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel received a puncture after hitting Karthikeyan's front wing, whilst lapping him and Vettel was forced to pit and replaced the punctured tyre which put Vettel down from fourth place, finishing 11th; Karthikeyan finished the race in 21st, however he was given a 20-second post-race penalty for his part in the collision, which meant he dropped to 22nd and last, behind de la Rosa.

Post-race, Vettel and Red Bull boss Christian Horner criticised Karthikeyan's driving, with Vettel calling Karthikeyan an "idiot". Karthikeyan hit back at Vettel, calling him a "cry-baby". Later, Kartikeyan decided to call a truce with Vettel, stating his respect for Vettel's abilities and saying "I think we have to deal with it in a mature way and forget about it." In 2019, he ended his single-seater career by joining Super GT series in Japan.

Other events and races

IRL test In 2005, Karthikeyan tested an Indy Racing League (IRL) car for the Red Bull Cheever Racing team for the Indianapolis 500 race and was offered $500,000 as an initial fee, but the deal was not completed.

A1 GP In 2007, Karthikeyan also drove for A1 Team India. He made his A1 GP debut in New Zealand and he finished tenth in the sprint race and seventh 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 India's first A1GP win. 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 fourth season for Team India was disastrous as the team lost its title sponsor, which resulted in severe financial constraints. 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 seventh 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.

The team finished 12th overall in the 2008–09 season.

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 would be partnered by Charles Zwolsman, Jr. and Andrew Meyrick. Team Kolles – headed by ex-Jordan, Midland and Force India Team Principal Colin Kolles – took part in the championship with two Audi R10 turbo diesel machines. The car boasted a successful racing history with three Le Mans 24h victories and 22 individual race wins to its name. Team Kolles joined the championship for the first time in 2009.

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. On 14 June 2009, Karthikeyan dislocated his shoulder in a fall just before the start of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. 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.

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 No. 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.

Superleague Formula Karthikeyan drove for the PSV Eindhoven team in SLF in 2010. He won the 2nd race at Brands Hatch, Great Britain and finished 16th in the Championship on 288 points, taking part in six of the twelve race weekends.

Auto GP Karthikeyan drove for Zele Racing and Super Nova Racing in the Auto GP series in 2013. After switching from Zele Racing to Super Nova Racing, in the latter part of the series, he won five races and secure four pole positions and in the process finished fourth in the championship & became the highest points scorer in the second half of the season.

Super Formula In 2014, Karthikeyan returned to the Japanese Top Formula series Super Formula for the first time since 2001 with the same Team IMPUL. In the 2015 season, Karthikeyan moved to Honda-powered Docomo Team Dandelion. Karthikeyan moved to Sunoco Team LeMans for the 2016 season after DoCoMo Dandelion Racing chose McLaren Honda F1 Reserve Stoffel Vandoorne.

Super GT In 2019, Karthikeyan raced with Nakajima Racing for one race, winning the Fuji Super GT x DTM Dream Race in Fuji, gaining the fastest lap during the race. He then raced with Modulo Epson NSX-GT Team for 8 races, gaining one podium.

Awards The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of Padma Shri in 2010.

Racing record

Career summary Season Series Team Races Wins Poles F/Laps Podiums Points Position 1992 Indian Formula Maruti ? ? ? ? ? 1 ? ? Pilote Elf Competition for Formula Renault ? ? 1 ? ? ? ? ? 1993 Indian Formula Maruti ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? British Formula Vauxhall Junior ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 1994 Formula Ford Zetec ? ? ? ? ? 1 ? ? British Formula Ford Winter Series ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 1st 1995 Formula Asia ? 4 ? ? ? ? ? ? 1996 Formula Asia Marlboro Castrol Meritus Racing Team ? ? ? ? ? ? 1st 1997 British Formula Vauxhall Nemesis Racing ? 1 ? ? 2 43 8th 1998 British Formula 3 Championship Intersport 4 0 0 0 0 44 12thCarlin Motorsport 6 0 0 0 2 Macau Grand Prix Carlin Motorsport 1 0 0 0 0 0 11th 1999 British Formula 3 Championship Carlin Motorsport 16 2 2 3 4 104 6th Macau Grand Prix Stewart Racing 1 0 0 0 0 0 14th Masters of Formula 3 Carlin Motorsport 1 0 0 0 0 0 16th MRF Madras Formula 3 Grand Prix 4 2 ? ? 2 ? 3rd Pau Grand Prix Carlin Motorsport 1 0 0 0 0 0 NC Korea Super Prix Stewart Racing 1 0 0 0 0 0 NC 2000 British Formula 3 Championship Stewart Racing 14 0 0 0 4 100 4th Macau Grand Prix Stewart Racing 1 0 0 0 0 0 NC French Formula 3 Championship Carlin Motorsport 2 1 1 0 0 ? ? Masters of Formula 3 Stewart Racing 1 0 0 0 0 0 19th Korea Super Prix Carlin Motorsport 1 1 1 0 1 0 1st 2001 Formula Nippon Team Impul 10 0 0 0 0 2 14th Korea Super Prix Carlin Motorsport 1 0 0 0 0 0 9th 2002 World Series by Nissan Tata RC Motorsport 18 0 1 0 1 51 9th Macau Grand Prix Carlin Motorsport 1 0 0 0 0 0 NC 2003 World Series by Nissan Carlin Motorsport 18 0 0 0 4 121 4th Macau Grand Prix Carlin Motorsport 1 0 0 0 0 0 WD 2004 World Series by Nissan Tata RC Motorsport 18 2 1 0 4 100 6th FIA GT Championship Scuderia Veregra 1 0 0 0 0 0 54th 2005 Formula One Jordan Grand Prix 19 0 0 0 0 5 18th 2006 Formula One Williams F1 Team Test driver 2006–07 A1 Grand Prix A1 Team India 10 0 0 0 0 13 16th 2007 Formula One Williams F1 Team 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 2009 Le Mans Series Kolles 4 0 0 0 0 11 19th 24 Hours of Le Mans Kolles 1 0 0 0 0 N/A 7th 2010 Superleague Formula PSV Eindhoven 12 1 1 0 1 288 16th NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Wyler Racing 9 0 0 0 0 963 30th 2011 Formula One HRT Formula 1 Team 9 0 0 0 0 0 26th 2012 Formula One HRT Formula 1 Team 20 0 0 0 0 0 24th 2013 Auto GP Zele Racing 6 0 0 1 0 195 4th Super Nova International 10 5 4 2 7 2014 Super Formula Lenovo Team Impul 9 0 0 0 0 5 13th 2015 Super Formula Docomo Team Dandelion Racing 8 0 0 1 1 6 11th 2016 Super Formula Sunoco Team LeMans 9 0 0 1 1 5 14th 2016–17 MRF Challenge Formula 2000 Championship MRF Racing 4 0 0 0 0 0 NC† 2017 Super Formula TCS Nakajima Racing 7 0 0 0 0 0 19th 2018 Super Formula TCS Nakajima Racing 6 0 0 0 0 4 15th 2019 Super GT - GT500 Modulo Nakajima Racing 8 0 0 0 1 23.5 12th Super GT × DTM Dream Race – Race 2 1 1 0 1 1 N/A 1st 2021 Asian Le Mans Series - LMP2 Racing Team India 4 0 0 0 0 42 6th2025–26Asian Le Mans Series - LMP3Team Virage 6 0 0 0 0 10 18th2026Le Mans Cup - LMP3Ajith RedAnt Racing † As Karthikeyan was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points.

Complete British Formula Three Championship results (key) Year Entrant Chassis Engine Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 DC Points 1998 Intersport Dallara F398 Opel Spiess A DON THR SILBRHBRH OULSILCROSNESIL 12th 44 Carlin Motorsport Dallara F398 Mugen-Honda PEM PEM DON THR SPA SIL 1999 Carlin Motorsport Dallara F399 Mugen-Honda A DON SIL THR BRH BRH OUL CRO BRH SIL SNE PEM PEM DON SPA SIL THR 6th 104 2000 Stewart Racing Dallara F399 Mugen-Honda Championship THR CRO OUL DON DON SIL BRH DON DON CRO SIL SNE SPA SIL 4th 100

Complete Formula Nippon/Super Formula results (key) Year Team Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DC Points 2001 excite Impul Mugen SUZ MOT MIN FUJ SUZ SUG FUJ MIN MOT SUZ 14th 2 2014 Lenovo Team Impul Toyota SUZ FUJ FUJ FUJ MOT AUT SUG SUZ SUZ 13th 5 2015 Docomo Team Dandelion Racing Honda SUZ OKA FUJ MOT AUT SUG SUZ SUZ 11th 6 2016 Sunoco Team LeMans Toyota SUZ OKA FUJ MOT OKA OKA SUG SUZ SUZ 14th 5 2017 TCS Nakajima Racing Honda SUZ OKA OKA FUJ MOT AUT SUG SUZ SUZ 19th 0 2018 TCS Nakajima Racing Honda SUZ AUT SUG FUJ MOT OKA SUZ 15th 4

Complete World Series by Nissan results (key)

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 MAL BHR SMR ESP MON EUR CAN USA FRA GBR GER HUN TUR ITA 18th 5 Jordan EJ15B BEL BRA JPN CHN 2011 Hispania Racing F1 Team Hispania F111 Cosworth CA2011 2.4 V8 AUS MAL CHN TUR ESP MON CAN EUR GBR 26th 0 HRT Formula 1 Team GER HUN BEL ITA SIN JPN KOR IND ABU BRA 2012 HRT Formula 1 Team HRT F112 Cosworth CA2012 2.4 V8 AUS MAL CHN BHR ESP MON CAN EUR GBR GER HUN BEL ITA SIN JPN KOR IND ABU USA BRA 24th 0

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 NEDSPR NEDFEA CZESPR CZEFEA CHNSPR CHNFEA MYSSPR MYSFEA IDNSPR IDNFEA NZLSPR NZLFEA AUSSPR AUSFEA RSASPR RSAFEA MEXSPR MEXFEA CHNSPR CHNFEA GBRSPR GBRSPR 16th 13 2007–08 NEDSPR NEDFEA CZESPR CZEFEA MYSSPR MYSFEA CHNSPR CHNFEA NZLSPR NZLFEA AUSSPR AUSFEA RSASPR RSAFEA MEXSPR MEXFEA CHNSPR CHNFEA GBRSPR GBRFEA 10th 61 2008–09 NEDSPR NEDFEA CHNSPR CHNFEA MYSSPR MYSFEA NZLSPR NZLFEA RSASPR RSAFEA PORSPR PORFEA GBRSPR GBRFEA 12th 19

Complete Le Mans Series results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant Car Engine Class 1 2 3 4 5 DC Points 2009 Kolles Audi R10 TDI Audi TDI 5.5 L Turbo V12 (Diesel) LMP1 CAT SPA ALG NUR SIL 22nd 11

24 Hours of Le Mans results Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps 2009 Kolles Charles Zwolsman Jr. André Lotterer Audi R10 TDI LMP1 N/A DNS

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

Super Final results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 122010PSV Eindhoven SIL ASS MAG JAR NÜR ZOL BRH ADR POR ORD BEI NAV

Complete Auto GP 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 Pos Points 2013 Zele Racing MNZ1 MNZ2 MAR1 MAR2 HUN1 HUN2 4th 195 Super Nova International SIL1 SIL2 MUG1 MUG2 NÜR1 NÜR2 DON1 DON2 BRN1 BRN2

Complete Super GT results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 DC Points 2019 Modulo Nakajima Racing Honda NSX-GT GT500 OKA FUJ SUZ CHA FUJ AUT SUG MOT 12th 23.5

Complete Asian Le Mans Series results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant Car Engine Class 1 2 3 4 DC Points 2021 Racing Team India Oreca 07 Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 LMP2 DUB1 DUB2 ABU1 ABU2 5th 42

NASCAR (key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Camping World Truck Series NASCAR Camping World Truck Series results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Pts Ref 2010 Wyler Racing 60 Chevy DAY ATL MAR NSH KAN DOV CLT TEX MCH IOW GTY IRP POC NSH DAR BRI CHI KEN NHA LVS MAR TAL TEX PHO HOM 30th 963