COIMBATORE: Chaos. That’s the word 19-year-old Kyle Kumaran uses when asked to sum up his racing journey so far. For him, the last four years have been “absolute chaos” as he has gone from one race to another every month.
“You get on with it, achieve the most you can as you go,” says Kumaran as he sits down for a chat after winning his third Novice Cup race (for DTS Racing) in round one of the 25th JK Tyre FMSCI National Racing Championship in Coimbatore.
Apart from the six months where he was stuck at home with his mother during the lockdown, Kumaran has had a month of time away from racing in the last four and a half years. The Indian racer, who’s based out of the United Arab Emirates, has grown leaps and bounds in the last couple of years, representing both countries. In December 2021, he won silver for India in the Rotax Max Challenge Grand finale in Bahrain. “It’s great to represent India. Representing the UAE is also great but it is always good to represent where you come from, making everyone around me proud. Not always making myself proud, but trying to make others around me proud,” laughs Kumaran.
How did it all happen though? Growing up, Kumaran remembers watching a small red object move fast on TV along with his dad, who’s an avid Formula 1 fan. “It was only when I was six or seven that I got to know that it was the 2012 European Grand Prix at Valencia where Fernando Alonso started at 11 and won the race for Ferrari. It stuck with me. That was my favourite team, it might have changed now, but still, Alonso is my favourite driver,” says Kumaran who raced for the first time when he was 14.
When asked about his goals or what’s next for him, the 19-year-old says he doesn’t know. At some level, it feels like he thrives in the chaos. It brings out the best in him. Given his age, there isn’t much in his mind apart from racing.
“For me, racing comes first. Everything else takes a back seat. You have to give yourself to the sport. For any sport, it’s the same. In basketball, we have seen that Kobe Bryant’s (an NBA legend) training schedule used to be from morning 4 am till evening 9 pm. That’s how you do it. And I have a supportive team, family, and girlfriend who help me out.”
“It is also money. It is your parents’, other people’s money. The team, the owners, the sponsors, we are carrying a lot of expectations and money. You have to keep delivering for them. That is what keeps me going in this sport. To do it for all the other people around me who have been with me.”
The author is in Coimbatore on invitation from JK Tyre Motorsport
Day 2 Select Provisional Results:
JK Tyre Novice Cup (10 laps): Race 3: Aadhitya Parsuram (Hasten Performance)- 15:19.654 Kyle Kumaran (DTS Racing)-15:25.403 Dhruvh Goswami (M Sport)- 15:27.503.
Race 4: Kyle Kumaran: 16:30.407 Aadhithya Parsuram16:31.383 Vinith Kumar (DTS Racing)-16:32.086 LGB Formula 4 (15 laps).
Race 2: Arya Singh (Dark Don Racing)- 20:09.536 Viswas Vijayaraj (Ahura Racing)- 20:18.793 Tijil Rao (Dark Don Racing)- 20:22.473.
Race 3: Sandeep Kumar (Dark Don Racing)-28:10.333 Ashwin Dutta (Dark Don Racing)- 28:10.539 Arya Singh (Dark Don Racing)-28:10.893.