DELHI: Chennai based S. Feroze Khan, defended his Indian Junior Touring Car title in style at the end of the recently concluded 2013 MRF National Championships. Feroze, piped Ananth Pittawala of Team N1 from Mumbai in a sensational finish, to win the second and final race of the day at Greater Noida’s Buddh International Circuit (BIC) to seal the championships. Ananth was in great form on the day, having won the first race already and looked set to win the second as well, but Feroze obviously had other ideas. This capped a memorable season for Feroze, where he won six out of the nine races spread over three legs across Chennai, Coimbatore and Greater Noida. It all started with a season opening hat-trick of wins for him at his ‘home’ circuit at Sriperumbadur, Chennai. His exploits in the season, have also enabled Team Rad Racing to win the Team Constructors Title at the championships.
Feroze, a rising star in Indian Motorsports, was born to a well-known family in Chennai with a legacy of racing. Grandfather Sattar Khan used to race during the Sholavaram times and was a middle weight boxing champion for two years, besides racing cars like ambassadors, fiats and imported cars like mustangs. Feroze’s father Ayub khan is two times JK Tyre National Champion. His father obviously was a natural role model.
Feroze started his racing career with Cars India in 2010 and finished 5th in his first race out of 18 cars starting at 10th position on the grid. He ended the year placed 3rd overall. The following year in 2011 he finished 2nd. His steady rise continued and he has now won the Indian Junior Touring Car Championships, two years in a row. He will always be remembered for starting 21st on the grid and emerging 1st in a race in 2012.
Expressing his thoughts at the end of the race and obviously delighted at the result, Feroze said, “This result was important to the team and me to convince us that we are on to good times. It is one thing winning a competitive tour once, and another to win as a defending champion. The pressure of expectations is something you have to live with in any competitive sport. The credit goes firstly to Radha Selvarajan, our chief tuner, who is so knowledgeable and such an inspiration and secondly to the entire team. Friends and family, including my dad have always been there for support and I can never thank them enough. I just hope, I am able to move on to bigger and better things and fulfil the dreams they have of me.”
Large scale series production touring cars race each other in the Indian Junior Touring Cars circuit. These include Maruti Esteem cars fitted with Maruti Esteem MPFI engines only .Zen, Esteem and Swift Blocks may be used as long as the same dimensions as the Esteem block are maintained. This year’s championships saw 24 teams in all participate representing places like Chennai, Coimbatore, Mumbai, Bangalore, Ooty and Trichy.
