Sharat Kumar

S. Sharat Kumar, the 18 year old Madras boy is the first Indian in the history to race in the MotoGP 125cc World Championship.

Kumar will race for WTR-Ten10 team and his partner will be the Italian Francesco Mauriello, the 2010 CIV Italian Champion.

The WTR-Ten10 Racing Team last week took part in the Jerez Test The weekend allowed the duo to gain further confidence with their Aprilia RSW bikes, and also gave the team the opportunity to showcase the official blue-white-orange livery, supported by many important technical and commercial partners from Italy and India.

Kumar, 18, a student at the University of Madras, who represented India in the UAM Asia Cup disputed in Japan last September, has just three years of racing experience, but is confident that the strategic agreement with WTR, planned for three years, will give him the knowledge needed to fight in the top flight of world motorcycling.

“When I decided that motorcycling would be my profession, I knew that the path was not going to be easy as in India there are not proper facilities in support of those who want to professionally pursue a motorcycling career. However passion and devotion overcome any obstacle and sooner or later, my life goal was to become a MotoGP rider. Thanks to the support of the fantastic people that believe in me, today my dream has come true. I hope I can set an example in giving hope to many other youngsters in my country as well as giving motivation, if not even a turning point to the development of motorcycle racing in India. It will be a year of experience for me in preparation for the next one; I have to learn as much as I can but I am also confident to be able to deliver good results in a couple of races’ time. I am proud to represent my country; I want to thank all my fans, all the sponsors especially my main supporter British Nutrition and my team, for which I have dedicated the “ant” engraved in my race number that symbolises the team’s work.” said Sarath Kumar.

Tags: Chennai, Francesco Mauriello, India, Indian, MotoGP, Motorcycling, S. Sarath Kumar, WTR-Ten10 Racing Team