22/11/2006
NEWS STORY
A1 Team India has strengthened its driver lineup for this weekend's A1GP event in Malaysia, with regular driver Armaan Ebrahim joined by new A1GP rookie driver, Parthiva Sureshwaren.
The A1GP World Cup of Motorsport heads to Sepang circuit close to the Malaysian capital city of Kuala Lumpur for the fourth event in the 12 round Series. In its second season of competition, A1GP has visited three new circuits so far, with Sepang being the first venue of the first season to be revisited.
Ebrahim has contested each of the three rounds so far and notched up the team's best finish of the Series to date in the previous event, with an 11th place finish at Beijing in China. In pursuit of more strong results, the team has added Sureshwaren to the team, to take advantage of the rookie session and contribute to the performance of the team. Ebrahim is not eligible to participate in this session, having competed in more than six races, the criteria laid down by A1GP.
Sureshwan, 26, was born in Chennai in India and has over seven years of racing experience. He began in karting taking victory in the Indian National Championship in 1998, as well as winning the Indian Saloon Car Championship and graduating from Silverstone Race school in the same year. In the following five years he took the Indian national Formula Maruti Championship title, raced in British Formula Ford, finished second in the Formula Asia Championship, competed in British Formula 3 National Class, Barber Dodge Pro Series in the USA and last year contested the World Series by Renault championship.
At this weekend's Malaysian event Ebrahim is hoping that the addition of a team mate will assist in the race preparations, saying, "I think we've been at a disadvantage by being one of the few teams without a rookie driver, so I'm pleased that Parthiva is joining us in Sepang. I think the team will be able to gain valuable feedback and additional data from running in this extra session, and we'll be able to be a step further ahead in our plans for the race."
Parthiva is looking forward to his first A1GP experience and adds, "I'm very proud to be selected to be part of A1 Team India and it's very special for me to be representing my country in this racing series. I'll be driving primarily to provide the team with feedback, track evaluation and mechanical set up work ahead of Armaan's sessions. However, this is also a unique opportunity for me to gain international racing experience at a very high level, to race the most powerful car that I'll have ever driven, and to learn from this, to help me to improve and progress in my racing career."
Seat holder, Yohann Setna, comments, "We welcome Parthiva to the team. I'm sure that he'll be able to contribute with his feedback and analysis which will help to accelerate our learning curve and assist us with our race plans. We're united as a team in our goal of representing our nation to the best of our ability and by adding a rookie driver to the team, we're demonstrating our commitment to this goal. We're looking forward to an exciting weekend of racing."