Interview with Volkswagen Polo R Cup Driver, Oshan Kothadiya

Coming into the second season as a Volkswagen Polo R Cup driver you didn’t have the most blistering start to your championship. Was this influenced to an extent by the varied nature of the race circuits or were you in a sense getting used to the race car all over again?

It wasn’t really about getting re-accustomed to the car. For me right since the start of season 1, my biggest struggle was to try and secure a position in the top 15 drivers. But right at the outset of the ongoing 2011 season, I managed to secure some great qualifying times and finished the very first race of the first round in 5th place. 

This was a tremendous confidence boost for me, and immediately got my focus on maintaining the same sort of consistency in the races that were to follow. After narrowly missing out on a podium finish in the next race, I was quite disheartened, but that is when I happened to meet JK Tyre Formula Swift driver Sudanand Rajan. Having observed my style of driving in Round 1, Sudanand’s feedback and words of advice backed by years of experience in the field were a real source of motivation for me.

In the following Round at Coimbatore, I put a lot of those inputs to the real test, and sure enough I managed to secure my first podium finish in Race 2. There has been no looking back ever since, and the results have just gotten better with every race.

Did Vishnu’s reputation and past credentials as a karting champion, along with rookie driver Rahil Noorani’s early success in the championship put added pressure on competitive drivers like yourself?

Vishnu’s past experience and merit on Indian karting circuits is almost unassailable amongst the current crop Polo R Cup drivers. This was a definitely a matter of concern for drivers like myself, who have negligible experience driving karts, let alone racing professionally in them. 

But after tasting success in the second round of the Polo R Cup season, I began to regain my confidence and began to focus on getting the best result that I could possibly achieve.

Having raced neck to neck with both Vishnu and Rahil in the course of the ongoing championship, I have come to realise that my core strengths as a racer lie in my ability to remain calm under pressure, and maintain a consistency in my overall race pace. I will continue to capitalise on these in my ongoing efforts to achieve the penultimate result in the final round in Chennai.

Did your crash in Round 4 and your unexpected wheel spin incident at the start of Round 5 severely jeopardize your potential race standings at this stage of championship?

DNFs are any driver’s most dreaded race result, but it’s all a part and parcel of competitive motorsport  and when you are a victim to this outcome, you just have to accept it and move on. But in my defense after my crash in Round 4, I did try to maneuver my car away from the race track, but to no avail.

Round 4 was a bittersweet result for me as I was a top the championship standings after my victory in Race 1, but the tables turned completely around by the end of Race 2, where I couldn’t even complete the race.

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With a 27-point difference between Rahil and yourself, will your focus be on moving up to second place in the championship or is overpowering Vishnu for top honours your ultimate goal?

I am still very keen on winning the 2011 Volkswagen Polo R Cup Championship. As is the norm with the points calculation for the final championship results, a driver is allowed to select his top 10 results from a total of 12 races (assuming he has participated in all  6 rounds) he has competed in. 

Taking that into consideration, I can see that Vishnu is just 12 points ahead of me, while my points difference with Rahil Noorani is slightly wider at 23. With a total of 120 points still to fight for in the final round at Chennai this weekend, no driver’s current position in the championship is safe and invulnerable.

What are your preparations at the eve of the last round of the championship?

My exam preparations have kept me quite busy, and as a result I have had minimal time at my disposal to really reflect on the race ahead and forge a calculated strategy for the same. But I will be looking at beginning the last round of the Volkswagen Polo R Cup at the front of the pack, and devise my race strategy depending on how the race transpires. 

With a ticket to racing in the Volkswagen Scirroco R Cup reserved for the winner of the Polo Cup in India, what are your future plans irrespective of the your final outcome in the last round?

Irrespective of what result I achieve in the final round in Chennai, my next single-minded goal will be to race professionally in the Volkswagen Scirocco R Cup in Germany. I have assimilated some valuable experience racing tin tops, and despite being a huge F1 fan my experience with karting still remains inadequate. 

International Tour Car Racing championships, the likes of DTM and the V8 Super Car Racing Series are far more exciting for me as racing car driver, and make a name for myself at this level will be the ultimate aim.