INDIA in F1

Tag: Shriya Lohia

  • Shriya Lohia among 14 rising stars for ‘FIA Girls on Track’ event at Paul Ricardo

    Shriya Lohia among 14 rising stars for ‘FIA Girls on Track’ event at Paul Ricardo

    Bengaluru, 18 July 2022: Young Indian racing talent Shriya Lohia, who created ripples by bagging the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar for 2022, earlier this year, added another feather in her young career as her name was announced in the list of 14 young women selected from over 100 countries for the next stage of the “FIA Girls on Track – Rising Stars” event to be held from August 17 to 21 in France.

    The FIA Women in Motorsport Commission named 14 girls from around the world on July 13 who will take part in the programme at the Circuit Paul Ricard for the next step. The worldwide selection took place after 146 National Federations (ASNs), nominated one promising young driver each with national or international racing experience. Shriya is the only Indian in the list selected for the Junior category of girls born between 31 March 2008 to 31 December 2010.

    Shriya Lohia, 14, from Mandi in Himachal Pradesh made her debut in the Meco Rotax Max National Karting Championship in 2018 and soon started to compete on equal footing with boys in Bengaluru. She soon acquired international exposure in Italy and Malaysia and continued to take occasional podiums and earned a second place in the championship in her class in the X30 Nationals. On June 15, Shriya was once again awarded for “Excellence in Motorsports” among women during the fmsci Awards gala at Chennai, the third award after similar honours in 2018 and 2019 as an “Outstanding Woman in Motorsports”. But it is time Shriya, graduates to Formula cars to gain exposure in the tough selection process ahead.

    The school girl, an avid Formula 1 fan, follows Charles Leclerc’s exploits on the speed lane and is a regular at the Meco Kartopia circuit in Bengaluru. A multi-faceted personality, Shriya is also good at scuba diving and takes parting in shooting as a relaxation sport to to train her “focusing” skills. A thinking person and a student journalist, she has her own blogging site and is known to be good at explaining the technical details of a race when called by the stewards unlike many skilled drivers of her age, who struggle to talk about their karts or a particular racing situation or incident.

    Having been assessed on track in karts as well as off the track in various workshops, just four drivers in each category will be selected to participate in the decisive Ferrari Driver Academy karting and Formula 4 Scouting Camps in November.

    At the end of the grueling training and selection process, the winning junior driver will participate in an international karting season with the financial support of the Ferrari Driver Academy. The selected senior driver will potentially become the third female to have the chance to join the Ferrari Driver Academy – following in the footsteps of Maya Weug and Laura Camps Torras, the winners of the first two editions – where she will begin development of a professional career in motor sport and compete in Formula 4 with the FIA Girls on Track main partner, the Iron Dames project.

    Deborah Mayer, FIA Women in Motorsport Commission President, said: “I am pleased with this quality selection, which brings together talented young women from all over the world thanks to the essential detection and support work of our clubs. I would also like to thank all our partners: Ferrari Driver Academy, Iron Dames, Pirelli, OMP, Winfield, Circuit Paul Ricard, 321 performance. Each of them contributes greatly to the uniqueness and success of FIA Girls on Track – Rising Stars.  These 14 girls will have a wonderful and challenging experience that could put them on the road to professional careers. They are part of the next generation of female motor sport talent that the FIA is committed to promoting and helping make their dream possible.”

  • Shriya Lohia gets PM Bal Puraskar award for excellence in sport

    Shriya Lohia gets PM Bal Puraskar award for excellence in sport

    New Delhi, 24 Jan 2022: Karting girl Shriya Lohia of Himachal Pradesh made the motorsports world proud by winning the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar (PMRBP) award and interacted with the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi via video conference on Monday, the National Girl Child day on Jan 24.

    Shriya, the 13-year old, became the second motorsports athlete to get the award, after Yash Aradhya got the award last year. She is the only motorsports athlete among the eight sportspersons awarded today along with 28 in other disciplines. The youngster is from Sundarnagar of Mandi district in Himachal Pradesh and is a regular at Meco Kartopia in Bengaluru for the last five years, where the National Karting Championships are held. Shriya was the “Outstanding Woman of the Year 2018”, awarded by the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (fmsci) in her early career along with two other senior girls Mira Erda and Sneha Sharma. Shriya made her debut in 2018 as a 9-year old 5th class girl at Kartopia. She went on to win the fmsci award for a second year in 2019. Though many feel, that it is a long road ahead for Women in Motorsports, the Federation in tune with the international federation, FIA, and the Government of India, of late, have been recognising women, as part of the overall motorsports fraternity. Only recently, motorsports athletes started finding their names in the National awards starting with an Arjuna Award for rally driver Gaurav Gill.

    The Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted about her today. On his official Twitter handle, he said: “The young and talented ShriyaLohia is an International Motorsports Karting Racer! She has won several national trophies and represented the country in international racing. Proud of her achievements. Congratulations to her for receiving the Rashtriya Bal Puraskar.” He tweeted with the following graphic at 8pm on Monday.

    A keen learner, who always competed with boys, with mixed results, she finally honed her skills attending trainings in Malaysia and also competed in Italy. Her big day came when she won a race in the JK Tyre X-30 Karting Nationals on 13th July 2019 in her Class VI. In the same year, the Indira National School student, finished first in the FIA Girls on Track, also in Bengaluru. Now in a Delhi school, she used to frequent the Garden City, Pune and Hyderbad to take part in karting events. Shriya expressed her interest recently to move back to her ancestral home in Sundarnagar, local Himachal paper quoted her saying.

    Twenty nine children have been conferred the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar this Year, selected from all regions of the country for their exceptional achievements in Innovation (7), Social Service (4), Scholastic (1), Sports (8), Art & Culture (6) and Bravery (3) categories.  There are 15 Boys and 14 Girls among the awardees belonging to 21 States and UTs.

    In view of the unprecedented circumstances emerging due to COVID-19 situation in the country, it was not possible to organise a physical ceremony at New Delhi. In order to felicitate and motivate the exceptional works of children, a function was held virtually on the occasion of National Girl Child Day today and also as part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav. The Awardees of PMRBP 2021 and 2022 along with their parents and concerned District Magistrate of their respective district joined the event from their district Head Quarters. 

    During the function, Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi gave digital certificates to the 61 winners of PMRBP 2021 and 2022 using a Block Chain-driven technology developed by IIT Kanpur under the National Blockchain Project.  The digital certificates are stored on digital wallets installed on the mobile devices of the recipients. The digital certificates issued using the blockchain driven technology are unforgeable, globally verifiable, selectively disclosable and sensitive to user content. Block Chain Technology is being used for the first time for giving certificates to the awardees.

    The cash prize of Rs.1,00,000/- was given to the awardees of PMRBP 2022 which was transferred online to the respective accounts of winners during the programme by the Hon’ble PM.

    The Hon’ble Prime Minister interacted virtually with the winners of PMRBP 2022. Union Women and Child Development Minister Smt Smriti Zubin Irani and Dr. Munjpara Mahendrabhai, Minister of State were among those present on the occasion.

    Interacting with Kumari Tarushi Gaur from Chandigarh, the Prime Minister enquired about her opinion on the balance between sports and studies. The Prime Minister asked why Tarushi idolises Boxer Mary Kom. She informed the Prime Minister that she likes her because of her commitment to excellence and balance that she strikes as a sportsperson and as a mother. The Prime Minister said that the government is committed to providing all the facilities to the sportspersons and creating a mindset of winning at every level.

    Addressing the gathering, the Prime Minister noted that these awards become all the more significant in the light of the fact that they have been conferred during the important period when the country is celebrating Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav. He said this is the time to draw energy from the past and dedicate oneself to achieving great results in the coming 25 years of the Amrit Kaal. He also greeted the daughters of the country on the National Girl Child Day. The Prime Minister remembered the glorious history of the Freedom Struggle and the contribution of Birbala Kanaklata Barua, Khudiram Bose and Rani Gaidinilu. “These fighters had made the country’s freedom the mission of their lives at a very young age and had dedicated themselves to it” the Prime Minister noted.

    The Prime Minister said that in any sector, policies and initiatives are keeping youth at the centre. He cited initiatives like Start Up India, Stand Up India, Digital India, Make in India along with Jan Andolan of Aatmnirbhar India and creation of modern infrastructure. This, he said, is in sync with the speed of the youth of India who are leading this new epoch both in India and outside. The Prime Minister underlined the growing prowess of India in the innovation and start-up sphere. He conveyed the nation’s pride in the fact of major global companies being led by Indian young CEOs. “Today we feel proud when we see the youth of India excelling in the world of startups. Today we feel proud when we see that the youth of India are innovating, taking the country forward”, the Prime Minister said.

    The Prime Minister said in areas where daughters were not even allowed earlier, daughters are doing wonders in them today. This is the new India, which does not hold back from innovating, courage and determination are the hallmarks of India today.

    Minister Smriti Irani also tweeted about Shriya and said: Resident of Himachal Pradesh, Shriya started her journey as motorsports karting racer at the age of 9 years. She is the only girl in her age category to compete in the national championships. Shriya is awarded PMRBP 2022 in the field of Sports. #BetiBharatKi

  • Shriya Lohia takes a sensational win in JK Tyre National Karting Championship

    Shriya Lohia takes a sensational win in JK Tyre National Karting Championship

    By David Bodapati

    Bengaluru, 13 July 2019: Lanky Shriya Lohia is a joy to watch. When she is running on to the track, or just tickling the boys on the track, the 11-year-old from Pune, shocked the boys in the X-30 Cadet Class winning Race 3 in the JK Tyre National Karting Championship at the Meco Kartopia, near Bagaluru here on Saturday.

    The  Class VI student of Indira National School took to karting like a duck to water. Within a short period, she has made amazing strides and her win today, in only the third round of the season, is a vibrant boost to the `Women in Motorsport’ campaign being taken up by all motorsports bodies. The youngster who suffered an unfortunate incident in the morning, showed her grit and perseverance to bounce back with vigour and stopped the juggernaut of Ishaan Madesh to win the third race in a time of 11min 13.233secs and defended well to keep at bay a marauding Pune mate Sai Siva, who had to settle for a third place.

    “I am very happy to win the race. It is really nice to beat the boys. I want to win more,” said the upcoming talent, who enjoys her racing to the core.

    Shriya wins Race 4 leading a bunch of boys in Bengaluru on Saturday.

    Her father, who spotted her love for karting after she fell in love with the track at Vadodara run by another Women in Motorsport ambassador Mira Erda. And there was no turning back. Due to lack of proper tracks in her home town, her parents make visits to Bengaluru and Hyderabad to provide her some practice time. She trains at Meco Motorsports. Her father Ritesh Lohia, an adventure sport lover himself, has provided all the support and if groomed properly, the youngster has the potential to shine in the man’s world.

    Young Shreya Lohia, originally hailing from Himachal, announced her arrival winning the FMSCI award in the Outstanding Women in Motorsports category last year.

    “At such a young age Shriya believes in her infinite potential. Going forward her only limitations may be, if any, which she may set upon herself. We are already in overdrive with our `Women in Motorsport’ programme, its such talent which keeps us motivated with their outstanding performances. We wish her good luck in all her forthcoming endeavors,” said Sanjay Sharma, Head of Motorsports, JK Tyre.