Chandhok is new president of Indian motor sports body

Mumbai: Vicky Chandhok and Shrikant Karani have been elected as the president and vice president respectively of the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI).

Chandhok, who was elected FMSCI president at the 37th AGM of FMSCI chaired by Dr Vijay Mallya at Chennai yesterday, has held the post between 2003 and 2005 and now takes over the reins from K D Madan, a media release said on Thursday. Chandhok has been instrumental in bringing the first Formula One Grand Prix to India while Karani, who has been involved in motorsport for over three decades, is vice president of the FIM Asia and has played a key role in promoting 2-wheeler racing in the country, the release said. The major challenge in 2011 before Chandhok would be the inaugural Indian Grand Prix at Noida to be held in October, which would put the country on the F1 map. "With the first Indian Grand Prix also in the mix, it promises to be India`s biggest year so far in motorsport and I look forward to carrying my vision on karting, racing, rallying and grass root level motorsport and meeting global standards in India," Chandhok commented after being elected. Chandhok also said that a major challenge before him and his team was to improve the motor sports infrastructure in the country and the development in the grassroot level."While it is indeed heartening to have the support of my peers at the FMSCI, there is a lot of work to be done to improve the infrastructure of the sport in the country. I have always been pushing for the sport to grow at the grassroot level." "We`ve had our team doing just that with Rallying, Motocross and Go-Karting respectively and we will look to carry this into all segments from the next year on," he said. A total of nine national championships would be held in 2011 which includes the latest additions - National Motocross Championship to be run by the Goa Motor Sports Association and the National Drag Racing Championship promoted by Spitfire Motorsport in Coimbatore.FMSCI Chairman Dr Mallya said the F1 GP`s debut in India has created a huge window of opportunity to attract more corporates. "With the F1 GP coming to India for the first time as well as the FIA General Assembly and the FIA Annual Awards ceremony to be held in New Delhi next December, it is an ideal opportunity for us to tap and showcase motorsports to attract more Corporates and sponsors," he said. Madras Motor Sports Club, Coimbatore Auto Sports Club, Karnataka Motor Sports Club, Sportscraft (Mumbai), Sportstrek (Pune), Bengal Motor Sports Club, Himalayan Motor Sports Association and Spitfire Motorsports Pvt Ltd (Coimbatore) were elected to the FMSCI council for 2011, the release added. PTI