Sunday 2 February 2020

Mira Erda


Mira Erda is an Indian racer who is the youngest Indian woman to race cars. She was only fourteen years old when she made her debut in LGB Formula 4 in 2014. 

She continued to race in LGB F4  (not the same thing as FIA F4) in 2015, as part of India’s JK Tyre Racing Championship. Previously, she was active in karting all over Asia from 2010, when she was nine. She won her first kart race in 2012. Her family owns a kart track.

In one of her first races in cars, the season-opener at Coimbatore, she was fifth overall. 

She won one Rookie class LGB F4 race in 2016, at Greater Noida, following three rookie podiums at Coimbatore. This made her the series’ female champion. 

In 2017, she was in the media again as the first Indian woman to race in the Euro JK single-seater series, a step higher than her previous experience. Her results were steady rather than spectacular; she was a consistent presence in the lower part of the top ten and was tenth in the championship.

She was the leading woman driver in the JK Racing India Series in 2018, driving its standard 1200cc bike-engined Formula BMW car. Her final championship position was tenth. Coimbatore was once again her best circuit, giving her a fifth place.

She attempted to qualify for the all-female W Series at the start of 2019, but did not make the first cut. She spent much of the rest of the year in the Southeast Asia Formula 4 championship with Meritus GP. Her best circuit was her home Madras track, where she earned her best finish of sixth. 

Domestically, she returned to LGB F4 and was ninth in the championship. Yet again, Coimbatore was her best circuit and she scored points in all of her races during round three. She was the championship’s leading female driver, ahead of the less experienced all-female Ahura team, which fielded seven cars.

At the end of the year, she was drafted in to the AD Racing Delhi team for the X1 Racing League, a new Indian championship with city-based teams. She was brought in to replace Christina Nielsen. The team's car was not competitive and failed to finish the first round’s two races, leading to the departure of Nielsen and Mathias Lauda. Mira does not seem to have taken part in either of the two races of the second meeting.

She helps to train other female drivers in India and is involved in the Red Bull Catch-Up series of events for female amateurs.

Her racing in 2020 was limited to karting. In 2021 she also competed in esports. She returned to the tracks in 2022, going back to the JK Tyre FMSCI National Racing Series, which uses the LGB F4 car.

(Image copyright styleandrace.com)

No comments:

Post a Comment