5 Time National Champion: Ashwin Sundar 1989 - 2017

Former national racing champion Ashwin Sundar passed away this morning at the age of 27 along with his wife Niveditha who was with Sundar when the car he was driving crashed into a roadside tree near a wall at Chennai's Santhome high road at around 3:30 am and caught fire. The couple were returning from a friend's house when the accident occurred, following which the BMW he was driving was caught between the tree and the wall, which prevented the two from escaping the wreck to safety.

Sundar's racing career in India included five national championships in three categories. Three of those titles came in the MRF Formula 1600 class, the last of which was in 2013.

The Chennai racer had first come to prominence when after winning the Formula LGB Swift title in dominant fashion, automotive major Volkswagen recruited him to be a part of their racing program. Sundar moved to Germany where he raced in the ADAC Formula Masters as well as the ADAC Polo Cup in 2008.

Sundar's association with Volkswagen Motorsport ended after the 2009 season of the Polo Cup after which he started to participate in the MRF 1600 Challenge in 2010, which led to a title triumph. The stint included driving in the F1600 support races for the 2011 Indian Grand Prix as well as winning that year's overall title.

After winning the 2012 LGB Formula 4 title, Sundar returned to F1600 in 2013 where he won the title for the third and final time before racing on a sporadic basis, most recent of which was in the LGB F4 class of the JK Tyre National Racing Championship last year.

Sundar would have turned 28 in July this year and would most certainly have continued to race at the national level.

We extend our condolences to both his family and of his wife's, who worked as a doctor at a private hospital.