Chennai: For the first time in the history of JK Tyre FMSCI National Racing Championship, women professional racers will feature in the competition, starting July 7 in Coimbatore.
More than 60 women racers from across the nation converged at the Karti Motor Speedway in Coimbatore earlier this week to bag the 12 coveted seats on offer of which the best 24 got to participate in the selection trials.
The top five, plus a celebrity driver in the form of Marathi actress Manisha Kelkar, were eventually picked, who will now compete in the 21st edition of the JKNRC for Team Ahura Racing, starting this weekend. The other six drivers have been kept as reserves.
In the trials, Coimbatore’s Roshni proved to be the best driver, taking the first place with the fastest time of 1:19.081 minutes.
The other lucky girls were Lea Daran (Meghalaya; 1:20:137), Priyamvada (Bengaluru; 1:20.169), Megaa (Coimbatore; 1:20:712), C Hansuja (Bengaluru; 1:22:333) and Manisha Kelkar (Mumbai; 1:23.300).
The selection process was conducted by three-time national racing champion Sarosh Hataria’s Ahura Racing while a five-member team evaluated the drivers based on fitness, car control, speed and lap times and picked the final 12.
