Formula Racing
How Mahaveer Raghunathan is carving his own path in motorsport
Mahaveer Raghunathan’s career has been full of undulating twists and turns, but a title in Europe’s BOSS GP 2017 championship shows he has plenty of untapped potential.
Mahaveer Raghunathan made headway into the single-seater racing scene by winning a European title in the 2017 season. His title triumph in the Formula class of the BOSS GP 2017 series is certainly a unique achievement, if not necessarily the most conventional one.
While he may have taken a different route than his compatriots, his career indeed began similarly to many other Indian racers.
Raghunathan was born and raised in Chennai — a city considered to be the heartland of motorsport in India — where he developed an obsession with cars at a young age. Like many enthusiasts of his generation, he got into the now-defunct Amaron Karting Challenge to race against thousands of school students from around the country. His talent shone through, and Raghunathan was among a handful of karters selected for special training from racing experts, including Akbar Ebrahim. It gave the youngster a perfect setup for what to expect in the future.
The successful stint in the Amaron Challenge provided a stepping stone into the National Karting Championship the following year. This was his first true test against professional karters who, like him, had made up their mind to carve a career in motorsport. But Raghunathan distinguished himself by gaining more experience in single-seaters.
He participated in several rounds of the JK Racing Asia series which gave him the confidence to switch to formula cars eventually. In 2013, Raghunathan signed up for the full-season of MRF F1600. Against stiff competition in one of India’s two premier single-seater series, he performed well to finish a commendable sixth in the championship.
But this consistency of performance was not good enough for Raghunathan. He wanted to continue to push himself and decided to try his hands in international competition. He raced in the final round of Formula Masters China Series at the Shanghai International Circuit.
Mahaveer racing in Zolder, Belgium
© Mahaveer Raghunathan
“I tested for a couple of days in a Formula BMW car with Team Meritus,” he said. “After gaining confidence, I raced in one round of the Formula Masters China Series in Shanghai. This was a very good experience and encouraged me to go for more races in Europe.”
And so he did. Aware that he had to move to motorsport’s heartland at an early age instead of wasting more time in India, he secured a drive in the Italian F4 championship for the 2014 season. Despite missing the opening round, he finished 12th in the final standings with a quartet of sixth positions being his best results of the year.
The next logical step up was to move to European F3 racing. It is undoubtedly one of the most competitive single-seater championships in the world, and Raghunathan learned this the hard way. Racing against some of the best and highest-funded budding racers from around the world, an 18th spot in the rookie standings was all he could manage. Despite racing for Motopark — a team generally considered also-rans of the competition — Raghunathan had expected a better overall finish.
“There was a very large grid in the European F3 in 2015. Most of the drivers had a lot of experience in the circuits in Europe and also had raced in other feeder series. Since most of the circuits were new to me, it took more time for me to adapt,” Raghunathan said, explaining the reasons behind his struggles.
“Also my technical knowledge of the car was very limited, and I did not have a good driver coach at that time. This had a huge impact on my racing. But now I am coached by one of the finest driver coaches in Ross Bentley. I have learned a lot from him and am able to put this knowledge to good use.”
Racing in Hockenheim
© Mahaveer Raghunathan
Aware that another campaign in European F3 would do him more harm than good, Raghunathan moved over to the AutoGP series with the PS Racing team in 2016. It turned out to be a highly-successful year as he finished runner-up in the championship with nine podium finishes.
With his confidence level back to pre-European F3 levels, he tested for MP Motorsport and Carlin in GP2, hoping to get fast-tracked to F1 through its official feeder series. However, with Carlin quitting the championship and budgets peaking at well over two million dollars, he couldn’t manage a full-season’s drive.
Switching gears, he opted to race in the BOSS (Big Open Single Seaters) GP, a pan-European series sanctioned by motorsport's governing body, the FIA.
“I did have a lot of chances to gain a race seat in GP2, but I preferred to drive the Auto GP car in the Boss GP championship since this has given me a lot more track time and also allowed me to improve my driving techniques and adapt myself to various race simulations,” he explains.
On the podium after his race win in Zolder
© Mahaveer Raghunathan
Claiming the 2017 championship
BOSS GP is divided into two classes — an unrestricted Open class where well-off drivers compete mostly with old Formula 1 cars, and a more competitive and controlled Formula class. Raghunathan sensibly opted for the latter, continuing his partnership with PS Racing by Coloni Motorsport that he had forged in AutoGP. He also continued to drive the AutoGP-spec Lola B05/52, despite most of his competitors equipped with faster and more powerful GP2 machinery.
Inferior equipment proved to be of little detriment to Raghunathan, as evident by how consistent his results were from the very beginning of the year. He scored a double podium in the very first round, finishing both the races in third place. He went one better at the next round in the Netherlands, scoring a pair of second-place results. Two more podiums followed at France’s Paul Ricard circuit, and it was clear by then he would be in contention for the championship.
What was missing was a victory, which came at former F1 track Zolder in Belgium. Not only did Raghunathan manage to win in his class, but he also beat competitors with much faster machines from the Open category.
On the podium in Imola
© Mahaveer Raghunathan
Following his maiden victory, he finished three of the next four races on the podium. The only miss came at the second of the two races in Brno in Czech Republic, where he was handed a 30-second penalty for exceeding track limits. The penalty proved costly, putting the 19-year-old third in the championship and with a mountain to climb in the season finale at Italy’s Imola Circuit.
Fortunately for Raghunathan, points leader Johann Ledermair had to pull out of the weekend due to a technical issue. This turned the title fight into a two-horse race between Raghunathan and Salvatore De Plano.
Raghunathan pounced on the opportunity, winning both the races of the weekend in dominant style to clinch the title. He ended the season with 263 points as opposed to 247 for Ledermair and 243 for De Plano. For Raghunathan, it was the culmination of the right choices and superb effort he put in at a young age.
Celebrating with his team in Imola
© Mahaveer Raghunathan
Following the title victory, he did a test at the Bahrain International Circuit for a spot in G-Drive Racing to enter the LMP2 series.
However, his future remains uncertain at this point. With funding an issue, he faces an important career choice for the 2018 season. He is split between moving to sportscar racing, where budgets are comparatively low, or the hope that he will be able to secure sponsorship to move further in the junior single-seater ladder.
Whatever he decides to do, 19-year-old Raghunathan has a bright future ahead after a rare international championship winning season.