“The Fastest Indian in the World”, Narain Karthikeyan has been rated as the top Indian racing driver in the world, ranking 126^th in the overall world classifications, a massive 1,353 points, and 75 places ahead of his nearest Indian rival. The Castrol Rankings, which are powered by AUTOSPORT.com, were launched at the AUTOSPORT International Exhibition in Birmingham, UK, on 14 January 2010.

David Coulthard, who launched motorsports first ever definitive ranking system believes the new Castrol Rankings system will show who is the best racing driver in the world, across all the major categories of motorsport. He explained that the new system will accurately compare the performances of more than 2,000 drivers.

“As a fan of motorsport, I have always been curious to know who are the best drivers,” Coulthard said. “Growing up back in Scotland I used to read AUTOSPORT cover-to-cover, anything that was in there at the time, irrespective of whether it was single-seaters or another form of racing. You tend to think F1 is the pinnacle, but is it rallying? Is it sportscars? Is it some guy racing in Australian Formula 3? I didn’t know until last night that there is an Australian F3 championship! This initiative gives us the opportunity to look at over 2000 drivers and come up with a definitive ranking. I’m curious to know what the future holds.”

Each driver is given a score depending on his qualifying position and race results from each event that counts towards the Castrol Rankings. Additional points are given for the fastest lap, leading the race or rally, leading the most laps, finishing on the lead lap, most positions gained and starting the event. The driver’s Castrol Index Score is multiplied by a pre-determined weighting. The weighting, calculated by Castrol performance Analysts is based on the type of race or rally being contested. The more important the event, the higher the weighting. Points are then adjusted depending on the number of rounds in the championship – in order to equalise each series to a theoretical 20 rounds. Every week, the drivers’ points are added to their previous points to provide a Castrol Rankings total, covering the last 12 months of competition,

Jenson Button topped the 2009 rankings, ahead of Sebastian Vettel and World Rally champion Sebastien Loeb. Coulthard reckons the Castrol Rankings will show who does the best job in 2010. The important thing with the ranking system is that it rewards finishing and consistency. It’s not just about the glory shot of winning a particular race.

“The Fastest Indian in The World” Narain Karthikeyan opened a new chapter in his distinguished International Motorsports career last weekend, by finishing 6^th in his first Le Mans Series race for the Kolles Audi Team, driving the Audi R10 TDi LMP1 Sportscar. The 5.5 liter V12, turbo-diesel powered car is one of the most successful sportscars in the history of the championship, winning the Le Mans 24-hour classic for the past three years.

Narain added another couple of ‘firsts’ to the innumerable ‘firsts’ in his career CV, becoming the first Indian driver to enter the Le Mans Series, and the first to score championship points, that too in his debut race.

The 1,000 km Endurance race held at the Spa-Francorchamps Circuit in Belgium was the venue of the second round of the 2009 Le Mans Series (LMS), where Narain started his summer season of racing in 2009. With its mixture of long straights, fast corners and varying gradients, the circuit ranks as one of the most technically challenging circuits in the world, and is a firm favourite with teams and drivers alike. Narain has good memories of this track, as it was the venue of a great battle between himself & Jacques Villeneuve during his 2005 Formula 1 campaign.

Due to the 1,000 km long endurance nature of the races (a Formula 1 race is only 305 km long), Narain shared driving duties with two other drivers, Briton Andrew Meyrick & Dutchman Charles Zwolsman. Narain undertook the driving duties during qualifying on Saturday and qualified the car 9^th on the grid, ahead of the teams’ second car driven by Christian Albers.

As per championship regulations, the qualifying driver can either start the race, or finish the race, and Narain chose the latter, thus doing the 3^rd & final stint during Sunday’s race. He took over the car at 5:15 pm local time, approximately 4 hours 25 minutes after the race had started, and drove the last 1 hour 25 minutes of the race. He crossed the finish line in 6^th position, 2 laps ahead of the teams sister car which finished in 7^th position.

Racing isnt just formula one you know, The A1GP or the worldcup of motorsport is also a world famous racing series with Team India as one of the participants. The cars in A1GP are all the same, so its up to the drivers and the team to tweak the cars and get the best performance. The drivers are forced to push the cars to their limit without actually incurring the wrath of their respective insurance companies for totaling their cars.

The formula one Indian Grand Prix may very well have a rival in the A1GP’s Indian Grand Prix, there were rumours of a track being selected near Rajasthan. Anyway some A1GP Team India statistics with a pretty photo of Team India wonderboy Narain Karthikeyan and his tricolour helmet :

A1 Team India Statistics

A1GP standings
2005/06 24th
2006/07 16th
2007/08 10th
2008/09 15th

Drivers Caps
Karun Chandhok – 3
Armaan Ebrahim  – 22
Narain Karthikeyan – 36
Parthiva Sureshwaren – 4

A1GP statistics
Races started 65
Wins 2
Points 82
Pole positions 1
Podium places 2
Top 10s 22
Raced laps 1537
Raced km 6259
Races led 4
Led laps 36
Led km 142

The A1GP team India has had limited success in the various seasons but with 2 wins and 82 points in total its definitely a team to watch out for in the A1GP format of racing.

Reacting sharply to Vijay Mallya’s criticism for the 2 drivers,  a lot for people came out in support of both Narain Karthikeyan and Karun Chandok

First to show his support was Bernie Ecclestone who also sees the commercial side of things in India. While the world battles an economic crisis, India is one of the countries which has put up a braver face. His support came for Karun Chandhok , he said Karun’s place is in formula one :

“The time is getting closer for F1 to be in India, which is something I am really enthusiastic about, and hopefully Karun Chandhok will be an important part of it.  His place is in F1” Bernie Ecclestone said

Tiago Monteiro came in support of his former teammate Narain Karthikeyan, he went on to say that Narain Karthikeyan can even win grand prix given the right car

“F1 is all about the car you are given. Give Narain a race-winning car and he will win races I can guarantee you” Tiago Monteiro said

And now come the people gunning for Mallya :

James Roberts said :

“Narain was abnormally brave in his ability to stay committed in high-speed corners in that Jordan car. Over one lap he may actually be even quicker than Giancarlo Fisichella . Karun is a great talent. I am surprised at what Mallya has said.”

Peter Windsor (according to an Indian newspaper said)

“It’s amusing when people who have made a lot of money come to F1 and make such ridiculous statements. It makes one wonder how they ever made that money! There is absolutely no question that Karun Chandhok has the ability to do well. He is at least as good as Adrian Sutil “

It appears that Mallya might have made the wrong comments at the wrong time !