Wheel power

Taking part in the German National Karting Championship in May 2014, 15-year-old Sahara Force India Academy karting driver Jehan Daruvala triumphed in the first round in Amfring, Bavaria. Daruvala faced "a 36-strong line-up featuring some of the best karters in Europe and the world including the defending champion and came up on top to claim another victory in this very successful start of the season,” notes a media release from Sahara Force India. Daruvala had never driven on this track before and had just one day of practice sessions. Keeping his cool in wet and variable conditions, the teenager finished fourth in the first final but surged ahead in the last lap by "relentlessly reeling in the leader to set up a last-gasp clincher.” Daruvala looks to maintain the kinetic energy at La Conca, Italy, in the CIK European Championships.
At Castelleto in Italy in April, Daruvala had won the second round of the WSK Super Master Karting Series. Last year the lad claimed the title in the British KF3 Championship — the first Indian to win a British Karting Championship. Sahara Force India had recognized Daruvala’s race craft when he took part in their "One from a Billion” program which saw a participation of 2,000 karting enthusiasts. Qualifying for the final assessment at Silverstone in the UK, Daruvala was the first inductee of the Academy. The Bombay lad is currently schooling in England.

Sahara Force India is an Indian F1 (Formula One) team and karting has long been the breeding ground of future F1 drivers. "Good performance in karting is the foundation of being a solid driver in the bigger league. If he manages to show this kind of potential when he switches to cars, the sky is the limit,” India’s pioneer F1 driver Narain Karthikeyan was quoted in the Hindustan Times, October 27, 2013 when Daruvala was in Delhi after his gutsy win in the British KF3 Championship. Trained by Terry Fullerton and supported by Sahara Force India, Daruvala hopes to move into KF2 class this year. "The KF2 will be a massive jump. The engines are more powerful, revving up to 15,000 rpm, and lap timings will be two seconds faster than KF3. It is a class for drivers in the age group of 15 to 30. There are around 80 competitors and most of them are 22 to 23 years old, competing in KF2 for over seven years,” Daruvala was quoted in The Times of India, January 31. "KF2 is the world’s highest rated karting championship.”