Indian pro-driver debuts in British GT

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Sailesh Bolisetti

Indian pro-driver Sailesh Bolisetti made his British GT racing debut on Saturday at Oulton Park in Cheshire.
He has signed with Lotus Sport UK team for 2012 and will compete in all the seven circuits, including the prestigious Silverstone circuit.
The 23-year-old racer from Visakhapatnam, who started racing in 2008, was partnered by veteran racer Phil Glew.
The British GT at Oulton Park, near Liverpool, started on Saturday, April 7, and continue till Monday, April 9. The 4.332-km circuit will host two practice sessions, two qualifying sessions and two one-hour races during the holiday weekend.
Bolisetti, who is an Andhra University graduate in computer engineering, decided when he was 19 that he wanted to train as a racing driver.
“One day me and my father were driving and I told him that I wanted to train as a racing driver. But we did not know anything about racing in India at all and started looking at training schools in Britain and France,” Bolisetti says.
An acquaintance of his father told them about veteran racer T.R. Radha Selvaraj and Radha trained the youngster for a day. “He first made me drive in his Skoda Octavia and only after seeing my performance shifted me to a racing car. He drove the first 10-15 laps to brief me about the finer points of racing and then handed over the controls to me,” recalls Bolisetti.