On September 18, 2010 Armaan Ebrahim finally achieved his dream — to be on the Formula Two podium. He finished third in the second last race of the season at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia.
On September 18, 2010 Armaan Ebrahim finally achieved his dream — to be on the Formula Two podium. He finished third in the second last race of the season at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia. It meant he also became the first Asian to climb those steps.
That gave him a 10th place in the overall championship, seven rungs above than in 2009. However, Armaan says it could have been better. “The podium should have come early in the season and not towards the end. But that’s motorsports. I’ve to prepare for challenges,” he said.
Next challenge for him is to secure a GP2 series drive, which is considered as the feeder series to Formula One. The 21-year-old will take part in GP2 test to be held at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi next month.
“I’ll be testing for two teams — British team Arden and Italian outfit Coloni. Hopefully, I will impress them,” Armaan told DNA.
Introduced in 2005, GP2 has seen many of them graduate to Formula One. One reason for that being that GP2 races are run on the same weekend as Formula One and the team principals get a good look at the capabilities of youngsters.
The likes of Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg, Timo Glock, Nico Hulkenberg, Heikki Kovalainen, Nelson Piquet Jr, Lucas di Grassi and India’s own Karun Chandhok among others impressed in GP2, which gave them a shot at Formula One.
Armaan also hopes that his performance will be noticed by a Formula One team. “If I perform well in the series it will be a good opportunity for me to get noticed by the Formula One teams. The goal at the moment is to secure a GP2 drive. Hopefully, my performance in Formula Two will help me to pull in sponsors for my GP2 foray,” said Armaan.
Armaan feels the future is bright for motorsports in India, the reason being the Indian Grand Prix, scheduled for next year.
“Every year I see more and more youngsters get into karting. With Formula One coming to India, it’s only going to increase. Corporates are getting involved in the sport. Right now the structure is pretty strong to take up motorsport. When I started out it was not so strong,” said Armaan.
He added that with the Indian GP, “Big manufactures will invest heavily in motorsports in India and its good omen for the youngsters in India. There are positive vibes around European motorsports circle as well. Everyone wants to come to India.”
According to him the reasons why most of the youngsters aspire to become a Formula One driver are — “Two drivers (Narain Karthikeyan and Karun Chandhok) from the country who have been part of Formula One. Then we have an Indian team as well and with the Grand Prix coming next year the zeal will only increase.”
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}