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.”
