 of the Etios Motor Racing Series. The initial response of 3300 online registrations was further narrowed down to 900, who were then invited to participate in the first round of auditions in four cities – Pune, Delhi, Kolkata and Bangalore.</p>
<p>The arduous task of selecting 70 young drivers from around 900 was given to experts* in the field, racing and rallying drivers both past and present. The participants were then given an opportunity to demonstrate their driving skills on go-karts, and were judged on their lap times and consistency in lap times.</p>
<p>As selections were held across the country at different tracks, the following was put into place to achieve the intended result:</p>
<p>– Tracks at all venues were redesigned by Red Rooster Racing to bring out driver skills</p>
<p>– Benchmark lap time on each track was set for reference</p>
<p>– Each participant drove eight laps</p>
<p>– Each participant was rated on 10 by the evaluators</p>
<p><strong>* Camp 1 Evaluators</strong></p>
<table border=)
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All Cities
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Leelakrishnan
7-time Indian National Rally Champion
Formula-3 Champion 1992
Runner-up, Indian Touring Car Championship 2011
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Karna Kadur
2004 JK Novice Racing Champion
Indian National Rally Champion 2009 – Rally Star Cup
Indian National Rally Champion Group N 2011
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Pune & Delhi
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Kolkata
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Farad Bhathena
3-time Indian National Rally Champion
Chief organizer of MRF Racing Challenge 2008-‘10
President of Indian Rally Commission 2003-‘08
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Amittrajit Ghosh
Presently a driver with Team MRF
Indian National Rally Champion 2007 (1400cc)
Drove in inaugural F1 Indian Grand Prix support race – (Formula Ford) and chosen for i1 Supercar Series
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Bangalore
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Nawaz Sandhu
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Karandeep Singh Sandhu
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MRF Racing Team 1990-‘94
MRF Rally Team 1997-2000
Winner of Sportscraft Summer Rally 1990
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Indian National Rally Champion 2000 – Group N
Indian National Rally Champion 2006 – Super 1600
Runner-up INRC 2003
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Camp 1 winners in brief (total = 70)
– By selection venue: BLR = 30, Pune = 21, Delhi = 15, Kolkata = 4
– By residential address: BLR = 15, Mumbai = 13, Delhi = 9, Chennai = 4, Others = 29
What to expect in Camp 2?
– 5 driver trainers – 1 dedicated trainer for each driver on track
– 3 sessions on track – more time on track for each driver
– Lectures/ theory + analysis after each session – detailed and comprehensive training programme
