“Don’t call me a woman racer; just a racer.”

This is the dream that 16-year-old Shriya Lohia, a class 11 student, is chasing as she hopes to make a mark in motorsport. At the age of nine, Shriya was cruising at 110 kmph on go-karts; at age 15, she was whizzing past at speeds of over 210 kmph at the Indian F4 championships.

Shriya’s passion for racing ignited during a family trip to Panchangani in Maharashtra. She had her first driving experience on a go-kart meant for kids aged six and above; she wasn’t chasing a dream or looking for a career, it was just a fun activity at a rental karting track.

But by the time the trip ended, Shriya had an explicit declaration for her parents: “I want to be a racing driver.”

Road to Indian F4 Championship

“I had tried almost every sport growing up,” Shriya tells The Better India, listing tennis, basketball, swimming, and badminton among her many pursuits. “But racing was different. I knew immediately that this was what I wanted to do.”

And to help Shriya cruise down her road to success, her proud parents, Ritesh and Vandana Lohia, decided to leave no stone unturned.

“I have always loved adventure sports and when Shriya showed interest towards racing, I decided to support her wholeheartedly,” Ritesh says.

Soon, Shriya and her family, who were residing in Pune at the time, started looking for karting training centres and realised there were more established arenas in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

In 2018, at the age of nine, Shriya........

© The Better India