Rising star Bohra brings European racing experience to Chennai streets

CHENNAI: If anyone wants to take up racing as a profession, Europe is considered to be the hub of motorsport across the globe. It’s a region where the money flows, rich sporting culture thrives, and many autosport companies are headquartered. So, if one wants to get the highest level of exposure, they go and compete in European Championships.

One such driver, who is bringing in the added knowledge by competing there to the Indian Racing Festival for the third year running is Nikhil Bohra, representing Bengal Tigers this season, an Indian-origin driver who is looking to make a strong mark in the second round on the streets of Chennai here on Saturday.

After racing in karting levels at a young age, in 2022 he competed in F4 UAE and Italian F4 championships, which are arguably one of the most competitive championships in that category. The 19-year-old was part of German team US Racing which was partly run by the Schumacher family.

Speaking to DT Next about his experience of racing in global championships, Nikhil said, “I’ve raced in both IRL and Middle East championships for two years now; I think both are great in their own way. In the Middle East Championship, you race on Formula One tracks and a lot of money goes in and out, and you also get great exposure. Same with the IRL too; you get more experienced drivers here than in the other regional championships with professional Indian drivers, foreign drivers and women drivers competing in the league. And they’ve done a great job in keeping everyone hospitable.”

He mentioned that he would head to Europe after this weekend to compete in the Formula Regional European Championship with 2022 Formula 2 Champions MP Motorsport and return to India to finish two more rounds of IRL.  

330 race officials on standby to ensure smooth execution of F4 street race

The safety aspect involved in conducting the street race was the talking point since the idea of the Chennai F4 night street race was mooted last year.

With race directors and chief of rescue services in place, Farhan Vohra, the race director of the Chennai Formula Street Circuit, who also officiated the Formula E race in Hyderabad and the MotoGP in Noida, is confident of pulling off the racing spectacle in the heart of this vibrant metropolis.

Street races often involve crashes and safety car interventions which makes it more fun for the racing enthusiasts to see new drivers come in picture to grab a win. But to make it all happen and keep the race going, it involves efforts of hundreds of people who are in the backend in different departments co-ordinating together.

Speaking to the media a day before the inaugural night street race, Vohra said, “The whole process involves the combined efforts of many people to run a street race. We have three ambulances in different sections of the race track, each with a crew of four including two doctors, a paramedic and a driver. We also have the Medical Intervention Vehicle (MIV) which is the one that provides immediate services during the race and the ambulance will be more like a source of transport.”

The 3.5 km street circuit features 19 turns, multiple chicane and fast straights, including the striking Napier Bridge, painted in a chequered flag design.

“There are essentially four critical areas I feel drivers need to be careful about and prepare a bit in advance. The critical area, I would say, is turn 1. The supercritical areas are turns 5, 12 and 19 which is the last corner coming to Napier Bridge again. These are high-speed sections on the race track,” added the race director.