Mumbai : The Mumbai-born driver is the first Indian national to participate in the series, which is renowned for being won by World F1 Champion, Lewis Hamilton.

Now living in Dubai, 15-year old Shahaan started racing in 2008 and his career is being guided by 2005 World Karting Champion and GP3 contender, Oliver Oakes.

Oakes says excitedly about his young protégé, “Shahaan had never raced at Ellough before, whilst most of his fellow competitors had practiced over the two days beforehand and also had the benefit of having raced there since they were very young. This was only Shahaan’s 3rd race in Britain, making his achievement all the more remarkable.”

After qualifying in 8th position on the starting grid – based on the points average from finishing 7th and 8th in the two heats – Engineer knew that being on the outside of the circuit for the run into the first, right-hand turn would present a difficult challenge.

“I was not pleased,” he commented. “Someone hit me and I lost five places straight after the lights had gone from red to green. Several of the front-runners had gotten away and very quickly established a big advantage over me. It took me a few laps to clean the marbles (dirt and loose rubber) off my tyres and get back on the pace. Once I had, I gave it my all and ultimately finished 6th with a best lap-time just 2 hundredths of a second off the fastest.”

Engineer – poised to be a frontrunner in the championship next year – stunned onlookers with his debut FKS performance back in July, by qualifying 3rd overall on an unfamiliar track. Eyebrows were further raised when he finished 5th in the feature race, delivering what the race commentator described as: “The most sensational drive of the weekend.”

Shahaan himself said: “The Competition is fantastic. All drivers in the series are extraordinary and I am constantly learning from them. My team boss Jonny Macdonald and mechanic Kris Baillie are very professional, while Oliver Oakes is the best driver coach I could ask for! ”

The top 3 drivers from 57 countries present at last year’s Rotax World Finals were all from the UK, highlighting the level of competition that Engineer is pitting himself against.

In March this year, aged just 14, Shahaan delivered an astonishing performance when he became the youngest Indian to test a Formula Renault 2.0. Despite the excitement created by this showing, Oakes has opted to keep Shahaan in karts for another year before he graduates to the Formula Renault UK series at the end of 2011.

Keep up to speed with India’s most promising rising star by visiting www.shahaan.com.