Circuit Racers from India

L-R: Mira Erda, Sneha Sharma, Neha Dabas, Ria Dabas

The Indian motorsport scene is growing rapidly. In the past two or three years, female drivers have been part of this, in both single-seaters and saloon racing.

Alisha Abdullah – best known for racing motorcycles (she is one of India’s only professional bike racers), but started on four wheels, and still competes in cars occasionally. Between 2010 and 2012, she raced in the Indian Volkswagen Polo Cup, with a best overall finish of eighth, in 2011 and 2012. In 2011, she scored her first podium. After a few years of racing bikes almost exclusively, she travelled to Thailand for a women’s race, part of the 2014 Toyota Vios Cup. She won the race outright. In 2016, she planned a return to four-wheeled competition, but this did not seem to happen. She spent a lot of time running and promoting her women's riding academy. She raced a Honda Civic in a national championship in late 2020 and scored one third place.

Neha Dabas – the elder of the Dabas racing sisters. In 2015, she competed in the Volkswagen Vento Cup in India. This was her first season of racing. Her best overall result was eighth, in the second round at Coimbatore. In 2016, she was selected again by Volkswagen India as one of its twenty drivers for the Vento Cup, but she did not make the final grid. She was previously, as a teenager, a national-level basketball player for India.

Ria Dabas – the younger of the Dabas racing sisters. Her first season of racing was in 2015, when she was chosen as one of the drivers for the Volkswagen Vento Cup in India. Previously, she raced motorcycles, and was India’s youngest female superbike racer. Despite her track experience, she was not quite as fast as her sister, and had a best finish of thirteenth, at Buddh.

Megaa Ganga (KS) - raced in India as part of the all-female Team Ahura in 2018. Her first race was at Kari Motor Speedway. She was one of six women drivers chosen to represent the team in the JK Tyres LGB Formula 4 championship. Megaa was the fourth fastest of the six and was the leading Ahura driver in the first race. She was 19th overall in the championship, the second of the Ahura drivers. Her best finish was twelfth at the BIC circuit in Greater Nolda.

Uma Hataria - raced in India between 1986 and 1987, when she competed in stock cars. She is said to have won a championship in 1987, although details are scarce of her career. She now directs a racing team and is the inspiration behind her son Sarosh’s founding of the all-female Ahura Racing. In 2019, Uma tested an LGB Formula 4 car with the latest crop of Ahura drivers.

Shriya Lohia - races single-seaters in India. Her first year in cars was 2023, when she was 16. She entered the third round of the F4 India championship at Madras International Speedway, finishing tenth in her first two races. In 2024, she competed in the series full-time, driving for the Hyderabad Blackbirds team. She was 22nd overall, with a best finish of eighth in the first round at Madras. Too many non-finishes dropped her down the order. Prior to 2023, she raced karts from the age of nine.

Mrinalini Singh - raced in India’s RGB Formula 4 championship as part of the all-female Team Ahura. She earned her place in the team through a talent search in 2018 and did the whole Formula 4 season in 2019. Her best result seems to have been a fourteenth place at Kari. She was banned from the sport in July 2020, having tested positive for a banned substance.

(Image copyright M. Periasamy)