Young motorsports aspirants in India is set receive a boost with Finland’s two-time Formula 1 world champion Mika Hakkinen to inaugurate the Madras International Karting Arena (MIKA) near Chennai on Thursday.The inauguration will also be attended by the only two Indian drivers who have raced in F1, Narain Karthikeyan and Karun Chandhok.
The track is located adjoining the start-finish straight of the Madras International Circuit, about 40km from Chennai. The MIKA circuit, which has been under development for almost a year, is designed by UK-based Driven International with Chandhok advising on the layout.
“I’m very excited to be heading to Chennai for the launch of the MIKA track. I’ve worked on a range of track designs around the globe from F1 to karting with the team at Driven International, but this is a very personal project as it’s obviously my home track,” said Chandhok.