Shahaan started his racing career in 2008 when he took the UAE karting scene by storm to win his first international race at the MEKC by a margin of 6 seconds. Debuting in Europe just two months later in some of the toughest circuits in Belgium and The Netherlands, he ran in the top order immediately against seeded talent with the advantage of several years’ experience whilst he was just a few months into his karting career.
In 2010 after leading the UAE championship Shahaan bowed out of contention to test his skills against the best of Britain and compete in a round of the Formula One Management-backed Formula Kart Stars series.
In his FKS Debut he impressed the paddock by qualifying third and finishing the final race in fifth place – The FKS commentator hailed Shahaans performance as an incredible feat – given that he had just rocked-up from Dubai, having never raced on the track before and had to adjust to working with a new team, chassis, and mechanic under unfamiliar conditions, racing against top talent –
Whilst others in the UK raced 4 days a week, Shahaan returned from Dubai after a two month break from karting to race the Formula Kart Stars grand finale and finished 6th straight out of the box with a lap time just 2 hundredths off the championship leader driving for a small privateer team. After this repeat performance the youngsters talent was clear to see and it was decided that he should rapidly progress to single seater racing.
Shahaan made the transition to cars with ease and after demonstrating that he was “remarkably quick” with championship winning team Fortec Motorsports during his first test with them in a Formula Renault. He was advised to forego the entry level series like BMW and Ford and debut instead in the full national-level Formula Renault UK series – the one that launched the careers of Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikonen.
Joining Fortec for the winter ‘Finals Series’, the debutant qualified an outstanding eighth out of 29 competitors during his maiden single seater session at Snetterton. He then went on to take five strong points-scoring results from the six races contested in spite of being the youngest driver and the only car racing rookie in the event.
Shahaan won praise from team owner Richard Dutton for completing a tough baptism into the highly competitive series without becoming embroiled in on-track incidents and was immediately reserved a seat with the top squad for the 2012 Formula Renault UK season.
To prepare for the UK series, Shahaan entered the highly competitive 2012 Toyota racing series in New Zealand – renowned as the most concentrated racing series in the world culminating with the 57th New Zealand Grand Prix as its finale.
The young Indian driver showed a glimpse of his capabilities at the opening event at Teretonga Park and after qualifying 8th, he finished sixth with fourth quickest lap time in the ‘Spirit of a Nation’ feature race in the midst of a polar rain squall – including hail and high winds. Importantly, his performance stood out among 19 drivers mostly from the ranks of F3, Gp3 and Formula Renault 3.5, mostly several years his senior.
In Feb 2012, Shahaan begins his pre-season testing programme ahead of the 2012 Certina Formula Renault 2.0 UK Championship where he will drive for reigning champion team Fortec Motorsports.
This website chronicles Shahaan’s exciting journey from karts to single-seaters and onwards to fulfill his next dream – Formula One.
| NAME: | SHAHAAN ENGINEER |
| Birthdate: | September 1995 (Age 16) |
| Birthplace: | Mumbai, India |
| Nationality: | Indian |
| Height, Weight | 170 cms, 64 Kgs |
| karting | since 2008, Formula Kart Stars UK in 2010 |
| Hobbies | Rock climbing, gymnastics, Jazz drums |
| 2011 November | Formula Renault UK finals series |
| 2012 | TRS NZ (Jan-Feb) – Formula Renault UK – (Mar-Oct) |
| Fav Car | McLaren MP4/4 |
