Former National Racing Champion, Ashwin Sundar, no more
Ashwin Sundar, a former national racing champion, has passed away. Sundar and his wife Niveditha perished after they met with an accident in their BMW Z4 in Chennai. It has been reported that the couple was trapped in their car that was wedged between a tree and a wall after the crash, following which it went up in flames.
Sundar was a racer who had excelled in several forms of motorsport. After a stint in go-karting, Sundar made the switch to single seater racing. He followed that up with two seasons racing motorcycles. He was second runner-up in the 150cc 4-stroke class of the UCAL National Road Racing Championship in 2005. In 2006, he claimed the title in the 115cc 4-stroke class and the 150cc 4-stroke class. The same year he finished runner-up in the FIM Asia Road Racing Championship's Underbone class for racers under the age of 21.
Sundar's car racing career had taken off by then. In the year 2007 he won the Formula Hyundai and Formula Swift categories of the championship. He briefly raced abroad, competing in the Volkswagen Polo Cup and the ADAC Formula Masters championships. Sundar was also crowned champion in the MRF F1600 category in 2010, 2011 and 2013. Following which he won the national championship in the F4 category in 2012 and 2013.
Sundar took a hiatus from racing at the end of the 2013 season, but he returned to competition in 2016, winning races in the LGB F4 category.
The motorsport fraternity mourns his loss.