Begin typing your search above and press return to search.
Motorsport
Mother's day: Mother-daughter duo from Karnataka competes in high-speed rally races together
23-year-old Shivani Pruthvi and her 51-year-old mother Deepti Pruthvi have been setting new benchmarks in motorsports and have already won several races together.
Shivani Pruthvi and Deepti Pruthvi (Source: Red Bull/SRINIVASA KRISHNAN)
In Indian sports, we have often come across sibling partnerships, but rarely we have encountered a mother-daughter or mother-son camaraderie. But Karnataka's 23-year-old Shivani Pruthvi and her 51-year-old mother Deepti Pruthvi have been setting new benchmarks in sports. The mother-daughter duo is blazing the course as rally racers and has already won several races together.
At the South Indian Rally 2019, The duo was first seen competing — Shivani as the pilot and her mother Dr Deepti as the navigator. They had competed in a Mitsubishi Cedia in the INRC3 category. They were also the only all-women pair to compete at the first round of the rally championship which was conducted at Chennai's Madras Motor Race track and adjoining run-off and service areas.
Shivani is part of India's First All-Women Racing Team, and a graduate of MBBS from SDM College of Medical Sciences. Her mother, Deepthi is a practicing doctor and a professor at the SS Institute of Medical Science & Research Centre.
The mother-daughter duo with the title (Source: Lionsgate Play/Facebook)
It all started in 2018, when Shivani first participated in Volkswagen Motorsport India's Ameo Cup and joined India's first all-women racing team, Ahura Racing. Growing up in Chikmagalur, Shivani's fondness towards racing began at an early age seeing rallies happening around her. After pursuing her second-year of MBBS degree, she picked up the art of racing from her father BS Pruthvi, a well-known racer in Bengaluru's racing circuit, and a local legend for having completed the last 60 kilometres of a local club rally on a flat rear tyre in 1992.
Soon after starting her own racing career, Shivani won the Sprint de Bengaluru, and went on to become India's first female racer at the Asia Auto Gymkhana championship. In 2019, when Shivani decided to participate in rallies she couldn't find a navigator to co-pilot her car. Her father pursued Deepti, her mother, to become Shivani's navigator and that's how a partnership was struck.
The mother-daughter duo conveniently worked together with their understanding for each other. Besides the partnership, they exchange and mother-daughter caring relationship on the rally track as well. Red Bull quoted, "When Shivani tuned into her competitive mode for the rally, she forgot to eat lunch. So Deepti brought over a meal and fed her to make sure she was taken care of."
The efforts paid off, Deepti was able to navigate Shivani to success at the first round of INRC as the mother-daughter duo clinched the trophy in the Ladies category of the South India Rally. They drove 116 km across special stages and 181 kms on the liaison stage. Shivani, who has completed her MBBS degree is preparing to pursue her post-graduation and on weekends she hits the rally course with her mother.
Story inputs from redbull.in
Next Story
