Toyota Etios Motor Racing drivers for 2013 picked

The national hunt for the driver line-up of Toyota’s one-make racing series – the Etios Motor Racing ended last weekend as 40 participants (in the age group of 15 to 24 years old) battled it out at the MMSC race track in Chennai. Of the 40 participants in total, 25 shortlisted will be driving the race-prepped Etios’ at the exhibition races in August and October followed by the inaugural season in 2013 with six races planned all through the racing calendar.  

The selection process was carried out across India at different tracks designed by the team over at Red Rooster Racing. Over 900 participants at different venues were tested for their driving skills and were given 8 laps each on a go-kart to set the quickest lap time. The gruelling task of picking 70 drivers from over 900 participants was carried out by none other than ace motorsport tuner N Leelakrishnan with other professionals from the world of racing and rallying – namely Farad Bhathena, Nawaz Sandhu, Karandeep Sandhu, Amittrajit Ghosh and Karna Kadur.

The final selection session took place in Chennai where 40 quickest drivers made their way to the MMSC circuit where they were put through extensive training sessions over two days before driving the Etios Motor Racing cars. In the end, the final line-up of 25 shortlisted drivers got selected based on the fastest and the most consistent lap times on the circuit. 

Commenting on the EMR driver training programme, Mr Sandeep Singh, deputy managing director, Marketing, said, “We had young aspiring racing drivers from all over India, and it was truly heartening to witness the passion and enthusiasm they showed for motorsport at the various EMR camps. This is only the beginning, and we have a lot of excitement in store, starting with the exhibition races in August and October this year.”