Jithendra Shenoy

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Jithendra Shenoy (born 30 August 1982) is a racing driver from India.

[edit] Childhood

A racer from the Sub-continent, is not your everyday racing driver. He did not drag his family around go-karting tracks as a young boy or have them re-mortgage their house to fund his passion; in fact his first laps behind the wheel of a go-kart came at the age of 17, just for fun, caught the racing bug and has never looked back except when looking out for opponents in his rearview mirror. He draws insprition from the Brazilian Formula One champion, late great Ayrton Senna.

[edit] Racing career

Having had a tough start to his racing career, his big success came in December 1999 when he won his first karting race at Freeway 19. He won the University Karting Championship in 2000 and again in 2003. 2002 and 2003 also saw a successful Endurance run by the upcoming racer. Voted the Rookie of the Year in 2001 and Talent 2003, He went on to win Races as well as the Championships.

Though 2004 turned out to be a mixed bag of fortune with some off-track incidents and a crash which put him on the side line for more than a month. But this didn't stop him from a stunning comeback he gave in the winter of 2004 which saw him take the BRC challenge right till the last race.

The year 2005 saw yet another close finish for the title but this time for the racing crown, as a very fired up Shenoy took the track by storm and claimed 3 Poles positions and managed 2 podiums and a win from the first 3 races of the championship. Though his mid-season races were cut short by a series of mechanical failures and non finishes. he came back with stunning back to back victories in the closing stages of the championship to once again take the challenge till the end. He went on to secure 3rd place in the final standings.

Shenoy is currently part of racing development programs and associated with sponsors of a leading Formula 1 team.