Over six weeks, Karun Chandhok shuttled across Europe alternating between his Le Mans and Formula E commitments.
After the two-race finale of the inaugural Formula E season in London, he was at the MMRT track in the city last week, mentoring participants from across the country at the Nissan GT Academy, a talent hunt programme that aims to turn gamers into racers.
He was in high spirits as he sat down for a chat with The Hindu .
“Initially, I was little bit unsure how it would go,” Chandhok said, talking about the first-of-its-kind electric car racing series. “But I would never have imagined we would be able to achieve what we did, and the numbers are truly amazing.
“To race in front of the Kremlin, or in the heart of London was unthinkable!”
Racing for Team Mahindra alongside Bruno Senna, Chandhok started the first two Formula E races well, finishing in the top six but did not score any points after that.
With the second season starting in September, he said things can only get better for the team. “The board has been really supportive and Anand (Mahindra) is always in touch over email, enquiring about our progress,” said Chandhok. “We will go testing in the next few weeks and see how it goes.”
Though he made his F1 debut in 2010, the budget required to find a seat at the top level meant the Indian had to look at other options.
He drove in the World Endurance Championship and the FIA GT series before Formula E, in addition to the Le Mans race over the past four years.
Though without an F1 drive over the past few years, Chandhok has managed to create a rather successful career for himself with some of the top media houses in Europe. “It started by accident way back in 2004. One of the Star Sports commentators was not available, and I was asked to fill in and received a very good response. I was even offered a more regular gig but I was racing in Britain at that time. I have been able to do it lot more regularly later when I had more free time,” he said.
Chandhok worked with the BBC for one year, and did a couple of shows for Sky F1. He is a regular on Fox Sports Asia . He also does a regular column for Autosport . “I grew up reading ( Autosport ) and that was one of the reasons I became a racing driver,” he said.
These assignments not only help commercially but also help with being in the spotlight, and meeting people and developing contacts that are vital in motorsports.
“Our sport needs lot of capital and is very important to be able to sell yourself to sponsors and teams. You need to be a bit media-savvy, especially if you are coming from countries that don’t have a motorsport culture,” he said.
“I once did 104 sponsor presentations, and only one replied,” he said. “And this was just in the first two years of my career!”
Since his debut, and Narain Karthikeyan’s two seasons in 2011 and 2012, there has been no Indian driver in F1.
However, Chandhok said things were getting better at the grassroots level.
“We now have a proper karting championship and a good single-seater series for starters,” he said. “Also, youngsters like Arjun Maini and Jehan Daruvala are driving in some good championships in Europe, and are possibly the two best bets for the future.”
(This is a weekly feature on the sports scene in Chennai)
