Diana Pundole recently became India’s first female national racing champion in the saloon category at the MRF National Car Racing Championships
Article by Kalyani Sardesai | New Indian Express
It was Diana Pundole’s birthday just two days before the MRF National Car Racing Championships. But the ace racer had no plans to party. “I was so focused on the race that nothing else registered,” she says.
The event would be the logical culmination of months of hard work: flying to Chennai from her hometown Pune to train on the tracks, working out, channelling her thoughts and simply, focusing. “A little voice in my head kept telling me: I got this,” she says.
And so, she did. On August 17, she became the first woman to become India’s national racing champion in the saloon category. To say she made history and crooked a snook at the macho-ness inherent to motor sport is to repeat the obvious.
This mother of two breaks stereotypes in other ways too. For starters, her calm, non-dramatic persona is the opposite of the hi-octane energy and flamboyance associated with motor racing. “Mere fieriness will not take you far. In order to win, one must be a combination of passion, knowledge, aggression and calmness,” she says.
Born to deeply rooted, yet forward-thinking Parsi parents – Jasmine Hoshang Rana and Darius Buhariwalla – her childhood exposed her to myriad experiences: gardening, travel, good home cooking, sports, piano – and yes – the sheer joy of driving.
“While my father was a devoted fan of Formula One races, it was my mother who showed me that driving was not a man’s forte. She was my first teacher,” says the 28-year-old.
Marriage to retailer Hormuz Pundole and motherhood followed, as did an MA in English literature, but Pundole was still in search of her life’s purpose. In 2018, she happened to see an ad from JK tyres calling all-female driving talent to Coimbatore. Intrigued, she took part, and ended up among the top six.
“It was our first exposure to formal racing. We picked up the nuts and bolts of training, learnt about the various categories that one could participate in and so on. The rules, the dos and don’ts, the importance of safety regulation = all of this was new turf. But I loved it all,” she says.
The girls went on to participate as an all-women’s team in the JK National Racing Championships and Pundole was hooked.
Here on followed a strenuous but fulfilling journey of competing, failing, strategising and growing. The learning curve was all the steeper for Pundole given her lack of roots in the sport. “Many seeded racers are second generation. I had no such background. Besides, the racing tracks are down South – which meant frequent travelling,” she says.
But she learnt how to prioritise her time between family, kids and racing. Along the way, she has had to deal with gender bias and snarky comments on how she was being ‘irresponsible’ in pursuing a sport that is notoriously risky.
“Yes, there are accidents, things can go wrong. But the important thing is to have faith in your ability, train hard and be fearless.” Just like Arjuna, the legendary warrior – and yet very much her own woman.