India Racer Akash Gowda To Race In FIA-F4 Japanese Championship

This season Akash Gowda will be participating in the FIA- F4 Japanese Championship 2017 to be held across Japan starting April 7, 2017 - at Okayama International Circuit, Mimasaka, Japan.

The series consists of seven rounds with 14 races (that is two races for each round) and will conclude on November 12, 2017.

Round 6 of the championship will be held in the world-famous Suzuka Circuit, Suzuka Japan. Akash will be the first and only Indian, to participate in this series, a proud moment for India indeed.

The team managing the FIA-F4 Japanese Championship is VSR (VINCENZO SOSPIRI RACING) in relation with ZAP SPEED official Lamborigni S.C Formula Jr. (SQUADRACORSE RACING) team.

The grid consists of 35 experienced drivers along with some Junior Development Drivers from Honda, Nissan and Toyota.

Akash is being trained and mentored by Armaan Ebrahim, son of former India racer Akbar Ebrahim, Armaan had recently won the Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo Asia Series.

As per Armaan, "I've worked with Akash on a one on one basis since 2015 where he won the Junior Rotax Max National Karting title. Before that Akash was under the guidance of Akbar Ebrahim (my father) and has always been a part of the MECO Racing family."

Akash got into professional racing from the age of 9 and has won multiple National Go-Karting Championship in India and later moved to race in Formula 4 in India, acquiring tremendous experience under the mentorship of the father and son duo of Akbar & Armaan Ebrahim.

The FIA-F4 Japanese Series is known for its tough racing conditions and a varied climate that Akash has never driven before, the new tyres with the different compound from Dunlop tyres make it more challenging for this young boy from India who is confident of making his mark this season.

In choosing to race in the Japanese Series rather than Europe, Armaan said, "We decided to move here instead of Europe because I think the level of competition and circuits you race are of the same pedigree or even better. After Akash had finished among the top three in last year's SEA F4 Series overall standings, we decided a progression had to be made to further enhance his skills."

He further added, "This year is going to be the toughest yet regarding competition, with Akash having to adapt to different conditions constantly. But I'm confident we'll have a strong year as he has been working hard and has shown promising signs through pre-season testing."

DriveSpark wishes Akash Gowda the very best in his future endeavours.