Ruhaan Alva, a 7-year-old karter, is making heads turn with his skills. The lad has been invited by a British team, Fusion Motorsport, to train with them and represent their team. He is the only Indian among the six drivers selected for the testing programme to be held from Dec 19 to 23 and Jan 2 to 8.
He becomes the first Indian junior karter to be selected by an international team, and to drive in the Little Greenman Championship in England as a member of the junior team for 2014.
He is part of Fusion Motorsport team, and is currently undergoing coaching and training with them. The Bangalore boy is a 2nd standard student of NPS, Koramangala.
“At the tender age of three, Ruhaan could identify most cars and was fond of browsing photos in auto magazines. Watching his keen interest in cars, I introduced him to karting to see if this would grow into a passion,” said his proud father Umakanth Alva, a businessman and an avid motorsport fan who has won a number of national and regional rallies.
Ruhaan has already completed two stints of training sessions, each in May and September this year.
“Following a three-day assessment with our team at two different circuits, GYG (North Wales) and PF International (Lincolnshire), I can say that Ruhaan has met the criteria to embark on a full training programme with us. He showed incredible maturity for his age during the assessment in which he was really thrown in at the deep end, running with drivers competing in the British Championship,’’ said Dan Hazlewood, Managing Director of Fusion Motorsport.
Vicky Chandhok, President FMSCI, appreciated the efforts of the youngster and said, “Training abroad is an important aspect in honing your skills and in fact, teams like Sahara Force India have insisted that any driver who aims to join them must be trained with professional teams in Europe. I wish the kid all the best in his future endeavours.”
According to British Championship winning mechanic Craig Boyd who is preparing the youngster’s kart, Ruhaan is all set to carve out a niche for himself as he carries the Indian torch on his very tender shoulders.