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Karun
started karting at the age of 6 in the pits at the then newly built MMSC
race track. He then attended the prestigious "BILL
SISLEY" karting school at BUCKMORE PARK in the UK at the age
of 9 & missed the lap record by 3 tenths of a second after only 2 hours.
He made his Karting race debut at the new DAYTONA raceway in the UK in
January 2000 and came away with a win. Participated in the one of
JK Tyre National Karting race at Hyderabad in
June 2000-qualified 2nd only to Parthiva Sureshwaren
(already a well established Formula Asia front runner), but got bumped off
in the race!!! JK Tyre realised Karun's potential and he was sent for
training at Advanced Driving Academy, Chennai.| Esteem
Class |
Formula
Maruti |
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Karun started racing cars in
2000. He was due to take part in only the Formula Maruti Class of the JK
Tyre National Racing Championship 2000, but as his car wasn't
competitive he decided to drive the Esteem just for fun and took
everyone by surprise by taking pole position and victory in both races
on his debut. Karun continued in the Esteem class and dominated the year
by winning 5 more races, on his way to 3 National records and the title
of National Champion.
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Karun was the only driver to
take part in both the Esteem and Single Seater Formula Maruti class. He
was able to adapt his driving style to both cars, which are totally
different from the driving point of view. Karun didn't start two races
and didn't finish in three other races either due to mechanical trouble
or a collision with another competitor resulting in no points in the
FISSME championship at the half way mark. From there on he scored 1 win
and 3 second places but once again failed to finish the final race of
the season ending the year in 5th position in the FISSME class.
Karun's stunning performance in the JK Tyre National Racing Championship prompted JK Tyre to sponsor him to represent the country at Formula Asia 2000 (Season 2001) as part of Team India JK Tyre. This gave an opportunity to this young champ to show what Indians can achieve as international platforms, if given an opportunity and infrastructural back-up. |
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| Asian
Formula 2000 Championship |
British
Formula 3 Championship |
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| Youngest
Ever Formula Asia Champion Karun made his international racing debut in the 2001 Asian Formula 2000 series driving for "JK Tyres - Kingfisher Team India Racing" under the guidance of his father and Akbar Ebrahim. Karun became the first Indian to win on his international debut when he won both the races at the opening round at Subic Bay in the Philippines. He followed this up with 3 more wins, the first 2 of which were at the Johor Bahru circuit in Malaysia, which is rated as the ultimate driver circuit in Asia, and the third one was at Shah Alam - also in Malaysia - in the pouring rain. Karun thus became the first Asian to win the opening 5 races of the season. This run of victories was followed by 3 second places and one third place in Shah Alam, Sepang(Malysia) and Bira (in Thailand). Karun bounced back with a win in the second race at Bira to extend his championship lead. At the next round in Korea, Karun bounced back from a big 140 km/h and scored his 7th win of the season equalling Narain Karthikeyan's five year old record, which he then went on to beat by winning the following round at Zuhai in China. With his 8th win of the year Karun was crowned the 2001 Asian Formula 2000 Champion.
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Karun got his Formula 3
break in 2001 when he was invited to test for
the British Formula 3 Champion team - Carlin Motorsport. He was
given a 2 day evaluation test at the Pembrey circuit in Wales. After a
difficult first day in typical cold, windy and wet weather, Karun was
given a benchmark time of 52.7 by the team for day 2. At the end of the
day, Karun had pulled off a 51.9, which was far better than anyone
expected from this first test. This earned him a seat for the 2002 season with "T-Sport, The Junior Carlin Team". The team has very experienced personnel, giving Karun every opportunity to prove himself in this year's British Formula 3 championship.
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