Narain Karthikeyan

Narain Karthikeyan
Narain Karthikeyan during the 2007 A1GP at Brno Circuit
Nationality	Indian
Born	Kumar Ram Narain Karthikeyan (1977-01-14) 14 January 1977 (age 47) Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India
Years active	1992 – present
Awards
2010 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Most Popular Driver
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
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) Wins Top tens Poles 0 0 0
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]

Family background and early career

The President, Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil presenting the Padma Shri Award to Shri Kumar Ram Narain Karthikeyan, at the Civil Investiture Ceremony-II, at Rashtrapati Bhavan, in New Delhi on April 07, 2010.

Karthikeyan was born in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. 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 GR Karthikeyan, ^[5] was a former Indian national rally champion winning South India Rally seven times. With the ambition of becoming India's first Formula One driver, Karthikeyan finished on the podium in his first ever race, at Sriperumpudur in a Formula Maruti. He then went on to the Elf Winfield Racing School in France, ^[6] showing his talent by becoming a semi-finalist in the Pilote Elf Competition for Formula Renault cars in 1992. He returned to India to race in Formula Maruti for the 1993 season at the age of 15 years, ^[6] and in the same year, he also competed in the Formula Vauxhall Junior championship ^[6] in Great Britain. This gave him valuable experience in European racing, and he was keen to return for the following year.

In 1994, he returned to the UK, racing in the Formula Ford Zetec series as the number two works Vector driver for the Foundation Racing team. The highlight of the season was a podium finish in a support race for the Portuguese Grand Prix held at Estoril. He also took part in the British Formula Ford Winter Series, and became the first Indian driver to win any championship in Europe.

In 1995, Karthikeyan graduated to the Formula Asia Championship for just four races. However, he showed pace immediately and was able to finish second in the race at Shah Alam, Malaysia. In 1996, he had a full season in the series and became the first Indian and the first Asian to win the Formula Asia International series. He moved back to Britain in 1997 to compete in the British Formula Opel Championship with the Nemesis Motorsport team, taking a pole position and win at Donington Park and finishing sixth in the overall points standings.

In 1998, Karthikeyan made his debut in the British Formula 3 Championship with the Carlin Motorsport team. Competing in only 10 rounds, he managed two third-place finishes in the final two races of the season, at Spa-Francorchamps and Silverstone, to finish 12th overall. He continued in the championship for 1999, finishing on the podium five times, including two wins at Brands Hatch. His season also included two pole positions, three fastest laps and two lap records, helping him to sixth in the championship. He also competed in the Macau Grand Prix, qualifying in sixth position and finishing sixth in the second race. He was the first racing driver to record a win for Carlin in British F3 ever since then Carlin have been invincible in terms of race wins in the British F3 Championship. Continuing his drive in the British F3 Championship in 2000, he finished fourth overall in the standings, and also took pole position and fastest laps in the Macau Grand Prix. He also won both the International F3 race at Spa-Francorchamps and the Korea Super Prix.

Karthikeyan started 2001 in the Formula Nippon F3000 Championship, finishing the year amongst the top ten. In the same year, he became the first Indian to ever drive a Formula One car, testing for the Jaguar Racing team at Silverstone on 14 June. Impressed with his performance, he was then offered a test drive in the Jordan-Honda EJ11 at Silverstone in September. Karthikeyan again tested for Jordan, at Mugello in Italy on 5 October, finishing just half a second off the pace off Jordan's lead driver Jean Alesi.

In 2002, he moved into the Telefónica World Series with Team Tata RC Motorsport, taking a pole position and setting the fastest non-Formula One lap time at the Interlagos Circuit in Brazil. Continuing in the renamed Superfund World Series in 2003, Karthikeyan got four podium finishes on his way to fourth overall in the championship. These results earned him another Formula One test drive, this time with the Minardi team. He was offered a race drive for the 2004 season, but was unable to raise the necessary sponsorship funds to seal the deal.

He continued in the Nissan World Series in 2004, taking wins in Valencia, Spain and Magny-Cours, France, and finished 6th in the standings, and also made a single appearance in the FIA GT Championship for Scuderia Veregra, partnering Anthony Beltoise and Maktoum Hasher Al Maktoum at the Dubai 500km, finishing 11th in class and 19th overall.

Formula One career

Jordan (2005)

Karthikeyan locking his brakes during qualifying at the 2005 United States Grand Prix

On 1 February 2005, Karthikeyan announced that he had signed a preliminary deal with the Jordan Formula One team and said that he would be their main driver for the 2005 Formula One season, making him India's first Formula One racing driver. ^[7] 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. ^[8] 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. ^[9] Karthikeyan said he was "blown away" by the difference between Formula One's stragglers and a top-flight team. ^[10]

HRT (2011–2012)

Karthikeyan driving for Hispania at the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Later in 2007, he was linked with the Spyker (previously Jordan) Formula One team after their driver Christijan Albers was fired, ^[11] 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. ^[12]

2011

Karthikeyan driving for HRT at the 2011 Spanish Grand Prix.

On 6 January 2011, Karthikeyan announced that he would drive for the Hispania team in the 2011 season, ^[13] 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". ^[14]

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. ^[15] 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 ^{[16] [17]} 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. ^[18] Karthikeyan was outqualifed by 0.022 secs to qualify 22nd, ^[19] however he started 24th and last due to blocking Michael Schumacher in qualifying. ^[20] Despite picking up damage in the first lap of the race, ^[21] Karthikeyan managed to beat Ricciardo by 31.8 seconds in the race to finish 17th. ^[22] Liuzzi returned to replace Karthikeyan ahead of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. ^[23]

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. ^[24] 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 5-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 5th 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 4th 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". ^[25] Karthikeyan hit back at Vettel, calling him a "cry-baby". ^[26] 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." ^[26]

Kartikeyan qualified last for the following five races (bar in Spain where Lewis Hamilton was excluded from qualifying and in Monaco where Sergio Pérez crashed without setting a time) however he started 24th and last twice (in Bahrain and Canada) due to other drivers picking up grid penalties. In China he finished 22nd, ahead of Caterham's Heikki Kovalainen. In Bahrain, he finished 21st and was classified ahead of the Williams of Bruno Senna who retired due to brake issues. In Spain he retired after a wheel nut failure on lap 22 due to a botched pit stop. In Monaco he started 22nd, ahead of Perez and the penalised Pastor Maldonado and finished the race in 15th, classified ahead of McLaren's Jenson Button who retired after collision damage with Kovalainen. In Canada he retired for the second time in the season after suffering a brake failure on lap 22 which made him spin in turn 1 and stop later on in the lap. His teammate Pedro de la Rosa retired with a similar issue two laps later.

Karthikeyan at the 2012 US Grand Prix

At the European Grand Prix Karthikeyan for the first time in the season qualified 22nd, ahead of the Marussia of Charles Pic, with Timo Glock missing qualifying and the race due to illness. He finished the race in 18th, behind Pic and de la Rosa but classified ahead of Lewis Hamilton who retired after crashing out with two laps remaining. He finished the next 3 races as the final classified finisher before retiring in Hungary due to broken suspension. He qualified last in Belgium, before running as high as 13th during the race, with good pace, before crashing out on lap 30 in broken suspension. He out-qualified his teammate de la Rosa for the first time this year at Monza, but ended up finishing behind him in 19th. He out-qualified him again at Singapore, this time by over a second, but crashed out at turn 16 on lap 30.

Karthikeyan qualified in 24th at Suzuka, having crashed in practice and therefore having to use an old-spec chassis floor. He was running ahead of Pic and de la Rosa for quite some time until retiring with vibrations on lap 32. He did a one-stop strategy in Korea and finished last in 20th, almost a lap behind Pic in 19th. In India he once again finished last, running with minor wing damage from a collision at the first corner. He retired in spectacular fashion on lap 9 in Abu Dhabi after his steering broke and he was rear-ended by Nico Rosberg. He qualified 24th in Austin amid fears that both he and his teammate would be outside the 107% time after struggling to heat the tyres in practice on the brand-new circuit, and then finished last in 22nd, also being accused by Vettel of holding him up when being lapped and allowing Lewis Hamilton to take the lead. He qualified 23rd in Brazil and peaked as high as 11th during the incident-packed opening stint of the race. He eventually dropped back and finished last in 18th. He finished the season in 24th, with zero points.

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.^{[ citation needed ]}

A1 GP

In 2007 season Karthikeyan also drove for A1 Team India. He made his A1 GP debut in New Zealand and he finished 10th in the sprint race and 7th in the Feature Race. ^[27]

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. ^[28] 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 4th 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 7th 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. ^[29]

The team finished 12th overall in the 2008–09 season. ^[30]

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. ^{[31] [32] [33]}

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. ^[34] 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. ^[35]

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 #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.

Karthikeyan during the 2014 Super Formula season.

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 5 races and secure 4 pole positions and in the process finished 4th in the championship & became the highest points scorer in the second half of the season. ^[36]

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.

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	12th
		Carlin 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	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	Racing Team India	4	0	0	0	0	42	6th

^† As Karthikeyan was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points.

Complete Formula Nippon/Super Formula results

(key)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	DC	Points
2001	excite Impul	SUZ 6	MOT 7	MIN 9	FUJ Ret	SUZ Ret	SUG 13	FUJ 9	MIN Ret	MOT 14	SUZ 6	14th	2
2014	Lenovo Team Impul	SUZ Ret	FUJ 7	FUJ 6	FUJ 7	MOT Ret	AUT 17	SUG 11	SUZ 10	SUZ 8		13th	5
2015	Docomo Team Dandelion Racing	SUZ 3	OKA 10	FUJ Ret	MOT 9	AUT 14	SUG 13	SUZ 12	SUZ 14			11th	6
2016	Sunoco Team LeMans	SUZ Ret	OKA 16	FUJ 7	MOT Ret	OKA 3	OKA Ret	SUG 12	SUZ 15	SUZ 14		14th	5
2017	TCS Nakajima Racing	SUZ 13	OKA 17	OKA 13	FUJ 14	MOT Ret	AUT Ret	SUG 13	SUZ C	SUZ C		19th	0
2018	TCS Nakajima Racing	SUZ 17	AUT C	SUG 5	FUJ 16	MOT 11	OKA 13	SUZ 17				15th	4

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 15	MAL 11	BHR Ret	SMR 12	ESP 13	MON Ret	EUR 16	CAN Ret	USA 4	FRA 15	GBR Ret	GER 16	HUN 12	TUR 14	ITA 20						18th	5
		Jordan EJ15B																	BEL 11	BRA 15	JPN 15	CHN Ret
2011	Hispania Racing F1 Team	Hispania F111	Cosworth CA2011 2.4 V8	AUS DNQ	MAL Ret	CHN 23	TUR 21	ESP 21	MON 17	CAN 17	EUR 24	GBR												26th	0
	HRT Formula 1 Team												GER TD	HUN	BEL	ITA	SIN TD	JPN TD	KOR TD	IND 17	ABU	BRA
2012	HRT Formula 1 Team	HRT F112	Cosworth CA2012 2.4 V8	AUS DNQ	MAL 22	CHN 22	BHR 21	ESP Ret	MON 15	CAN Ret	EUR 18	GBR 21	GER 23	HUN Ret	BEL Ret	ITA 19	SIN Ret	JPN Ret	KOR 20	IND 21	ABU Ret	USA 22	BRA 18	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	NED SPR	NED FEA	CZE SPR	CZE FEA	CHN SPR	CHN FEA	MYS SPR	MYS FEA	IDN SPR	IDN FEA	NZL SPR 10	NZL FEA 7	AUS SPR	AUS FEA	RSA SPR 15	RSA FEA 9	MEX SPR 11	MEX FEA 18	CHN SPR 7	CHN FEA 17	GBR SPR 7	GBR SPR 4	16th	13
2007–08		NED SPR 10	NED FEA Ret	CZE SPR 21	CZE FEA 9	MYS SPR 11	MYS FEA 6	CHN SPR 7	CHN FEA 1	NZL SPR 10	NZL FEA Ret	AUS SPR 11	AUS FEA 11	RSA SPR	RSA FEA	MEX SPR 13	MEX FEA 9	CHN SPR 5	CHN FEA 7	GBR SPR 5	GBR FEA 1			10th	61
2008–09		NED SPR	NED FEA	CHN SPR 10	CHN FEA 10	MYS SPR Ret	MYS FEA Ret	NZL SPR 9	NZL FEA 7	RSA SPR 6	RSA FEA 12	POR SPR 6	POR FEA 11	GBR SPR 2	GBR FEA Ret									12th	19

Superleague Formula

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

Year	Team	Operator	1			2			3			4			5			6			7			8			9			10			11			12			Position	Points
2010	PSV Eindhoven	Racing for Holland	SIL			ASS			MAG			JAR			NÜR			ZOL			BRH			ADR			POR			ORD			BEI			NAV			16th	288
			12	15	X	13	9	X				11	15	X	13	16	X	10	14	X	18	1	X

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2009	Kolles	Charles Zwolsman Jr. André Lotterer	Audi R10 TDI	LMP1	N/A	DNS [lower-alpha 1]

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	MNZ 1 5	MNZ 2 Ret	MAR 1 6	MAR 2 Ret	HUN 1 8	HUN 2 4											4th	195
	Super Nova International							SIL 1 1	SIL 2 12	MUG 1 3	MUG 2 1	NÜR 1 1	NÜR 2 5	DON 1 2	DON 2 1	BRN 1 1	BRN 2 DSQ

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	NCWTC	Pts	Ref
2010	Wyler Racing	60	Chevy	DAY	ATL	MAR 13	NSH	KAN 36	DOV	CLT 17	TEX 11	MCH	IOW	GTY	IRP 20	POC	NSH 17	DAR	BRI	CHI 14	KEN	NHA	LVS 27	MAR	TAL 13	TEX	PHO	HOM	30th	963	[38]

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 10	FUJ 10	SUZ 11	CHA 10	FUJ 10	AUT 7	SUG 2	MOT 12	12th	23.5

See also

• Formula One drivers from India
• TorqueX Archived 17 July 2018 at the Wayback Machine

Notes

1. Karthikeyan was nominated as the starting driver for the No. 14 Kolles entry, but dislocated his shoulder going over the pitwall before the formation lap. He was unable to take part in the race and was therefore not credited with the seventh place his teammates achieved. ^[37]

References

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.
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.
5. Unnikrishnan, MS (12 March 2005). "Race apart". www.tribuneindia.com. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
6. Ebrahim, Akbar (12 March 2005). "Drive devil". www.tribuneindia.com. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
7. "Karthekiyan to be signed by Jordan Midland". 1 February 2005. Retrieved 19 May 2023.
8. "Williams Confirms Narain Karthikeyan". NewsOnF1.com. 27 January 2006. Retrieved 4 May 2006.
9. "Williams retain Karthikeyan for 2007". 28 September 2006. Archived from the original on 21 August 2019. Retrieved 28 September 2006.
10. "Karthikeyan 'Blown away' by F1 contrast". F1racing.net. 12 December 2006. Retrieved 24 October 2006.
11. "Karthikeyan versus Piquet for Spyker". grandprix.com. 10 July 2007. Retrieved 12 July 2007.
12. Noble, Jonathan (4 March 2010). "Chandhok announced as HRT driver". Autosport. Retrieved 4 March 2010.
13. Noble, Jonathan (6 January 2011). "Karthikeyan signs race deal with HRT". Autosport. Retrieved 6 January 2011.
14. Weeks, Jimmy (6 January 2011). "KARTHIKEYAN LANDS HISPANIA DRIVE FOR 2011". F1Badger.com. Archived from the original on 11 January 2011. Retrieved 6 January 2011.
15. "European Grand Prix from the pit lane". BBC. 26 June 2011. Retrieved 26 June 2011.
16. "Hispania confirms Daniel Ricciardo will race for it from Silverstone". Autosport . 30 June 2011.
17. "Karthikeyan to race in India for HRT". Formula One. 17 September 2011.
18. "Karthikeyan to replace Liuzzi for Indian GP". ManipeF1.com. 23 October 2011. Archived from the original on 28 October 2011.
19. "2011 Airtel Formula 1 Grand Prix of India Qualifying Results". Formula One. 29 October 2011.
20. Elizalde, Pablo (29 October 2011). "Karthikeyan penalised for impeding Schumacher during qualifying". Autosport . Retrieved 9 November 2011.
21. "Karthikeyan proved his worth at the Indian Grand Prix 2011". aaformula1.com. 30 October 2011. Archived from the original on 2 November 2011.
22. "2011 Airtel Formula 1 Grand Prix of India Race (Timing Archive)". Formula One. 30 October 2011.
23. "Liuzzi braces for 'tricky' Yas circuit". Gulf News . 8 November 2011.
24. "Narain Karthikeyan joins HRT F1 team for 2012 season". BBC Sport . BBC. 3 February 2012. Retrieved 13 October 2017.
25. "Sebastian Vettel criticises 'idiot' backmarker in Malaysian GP". BBC. 26 March 2012. Retrieved 30 March 2012.
26. "Karthikeyan keen to move on from Vettel 'cry baby' comment". BBC. 30 March 2012. Retrieved 30 March 2012.
27. "With change of heart, Narain says yes to A-1". Hindustan Times. 16 January 2007. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 17 January 2007.
28. "Earth Times: show/159637.html". earthtimes.org. Archived from the original on 29 August 2012. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
29. "A1Teamindia". Archived from the original on 9 October 2009. Retrieved 14 May 2009.
30. "A1Teamindia". Archived from the original on 9 October 2008. Retrieved 14 May 2009.
31. "Karthikeyan invited to Kolles Le Mans test". GPUpdate.net. 4 March 2009. Retrieved 31 January 2011.
32. "Albers signs with Kolles Le Mans team". GPUpdate.net. 1 April 2009. Retrieved 31 January 2011.
33. "Team Kolles confirms drivers and Audi R10 livery". planetlemans.com. 31 March 2009. Archived from the original on 27 January 2012. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
34. "Karthikeyan does well to finish 6th". The Telegraph. Calcutta, India. 12 May 2009. Archived from the original on 4 January 2013.
35. "Karthikeyan rejected to drive at Le Mans". f1technical.net. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
36. "Narain Karthikeyan ends Auto GP season with five wins". DNA India. 6 October 2013.
37. "Freak injury forces Karthikeyan out of Le Mans". The Times of India . 14 June 2009. Retrieved 2 June 2023.
38. "Narain Karthikeyan – 2010 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 4 April 2023.

External links

• Official website
• Narain Karthikeyan driver statistics at Racing-Reference

Achievements
Preceded by Ricky Carmichael	NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Most Popular Driver 2010	Succeeded by Austin Dillon