Davit "Data" Kajaia (Georgian: დავით "დათა" ქაჯაია; born 10 January 1984 in Tbilisi) is a Georgian racing driver, best known for winning the Legends Euro Nations Cup in 2012[1] and 2013.[2] He currently drives for the MIA Force team in the Georgian Circuit Championship.
| Data Kajaia | |
|---|---|
 Kajaia at the Red Bull Ring in 2024 | |
| Nationality |  Georgian |
| Born | 10 January 1984 Tbilisi (Georgia) |
| Legends Cars career | |
| Debut season | 2011 Rustavi Pre-Opening Race |
| Current team | MIA Force |
| Car number | 20 |
| Previous series | |
| 2005-2011 2006-2011 2007 2007-2008 2011-2013 | Georgian Speed Slalom Georgian Pair Racing Georgian Rally Championship Georgian Touring Series Georgian Legends Championship |
| Championship titles | |
| 2012,2013 2013 2014 2015 | Legends Euro Nations Cup Georgian Legends Championship European Legends SuperCup European Touring Car Cup |
Career
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Data Kajaia started his career in the Georgian Speed Slalom series in 2004. The next season, he achieved third place at the wheel of BMW M3, and won the national title a year later. In 2007 Kajaia entered the national circuit racing series and finished third in the championship, driving a Honda Civic 1600. On the same car he came third overall in the national rally series. In 2010 and 2011 he dominated in Georgian pair racing championship. After the reconstruction of the only Georgian race track Rustavi in 2011 Kajaia joined one of a newly established national teams, the MIA Force, sponsored by the national Ministry of Internal Affairs and won his first Legends race after a closely fought battle with more experienced rivals from Russia. In 2012, Kajaia continued driving in the Georgian Legends championship and also contested Europe Nations Cup of the same category. He finished second in the homeland series and won the Europe cup. In 2013 he took the national title, still dominating in Europe,[3][4] and was awarded by the minister of internal affairs Irakli Garibashvili.[5][6][7][8]
In 2014, Kajaia continued in domestic championship and also won European Legends SuperCup.[9]
In 2015 Kajaia entered the European Touring Car Cup series (ETCC) with the TC2T class BMW 320 Engstler team. During the first race of the opening round on Hungaroring Kajaia was on his way to a shock win against the dominant Seat Leon Cup class cars in his inferior BMW but a mistake on a last lap relegated him to second overall. Nevertheless, Kajaia won in his TC2T class convincingly in both races. During the second round on Slovakiaring Kajaia also won both races in TC2T class and came second overall in a second race, beating all but one Seat Leon Cup cars. Kajaia also scored the fastest lap of the race. Kajaia continued his successful campaign in France and Czech Republic on Paul Ricard and Brno circuits respectively by winning all races in TC2T and being in top 3 across the line against dominant Seat Single Make Trophy cars in all races. He led the second race against Seats in Brno but could not hold on to his lead due to power disadvantage of his TC2T class car on uphill sections of the track and had to settle for 3rd across the line (nevertheless he won in the TC2T class dully). Kajaia suggested after the race that he might have won outright had he not left his rain settings on after the early shower.[10]
His winning streak was interrupted on Zolder, in Belgium where he took pole position on the wet track and led the whole race 1 before a mechanical failure denied him the win 3 laps from the end. During the second race Kajaia went off the track and had to settle for second in TC2T. For the last round in Pergusa, Italy he also had to compete against Franz Engstler (owner of his team) in a sister BMW TC2T. During the first race he chased Petr Fulin in a Seat for the win but could not close in sufficiently to attack the Czech driver in a superior single make machinery. His win in TC2T was enough to secure him the 2015 title regardless of the results of the second race. During the second race both Engstler Motorsport cars made an excellent start from a reversed grid. After a couple of overtakes Kajaia came second overall behind Engstler's leading TC2T BMW. Kajaia pushed his teammate hard, closing down on the German and putting pressure on him for the last several laps but could not find the way past and had to settle for second. Kajaia received his ETCC trophy during the FIA 2015 Motorsport awards held in December 2015.
Racing record
editCareer highlights
edit| Season | Series | Car | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Speed Slalom Championship of Georgia | BMW M3 | 3 |
| 2006 | Speed Slalom Championship of Georgia | BMW M3 | 1 |
| Pair Racing Series | BMW M3 | 1 | |
| 2007 | Speed Slalom Championship of Georgia | BMW M3 | 1 |
| Pair Racing Series | BMW M3 | 2 | |
| Circuit Racing Championship of Georgia | Honda Civic 1600 | 3 | |
| Rally Championship of Georgia | Honda Civic 1600 | 3 | |
| Georgian Race of Champions | Honda Civic 1600 | 2 | |
| 2008 | Pair Racing Rompetrol Cup | Honda Civic 1600 | 3 |
| Circuit Racing Championship of Georgia | Honda Civic 1600 | 3 | |
| 2009 | Pair Racing | BMW M3 | 1 |
| Speed Slalom | BMW M3 | 3 | |
| 2010 | Pair Racing | BMW M3 | 1 |
| Drift King 2010 | BMW M3 | 2 | |
| Rustavi Pair Racing Super Finals | BMW M3 | 1 | |
| 2011 | Pair Racing | BMW M3 | 1 |
| Speed Slalom | BMW M3 | 3 | |
| Pair Racing Rompetrol Cup | BMW M3 | 2 | |
| Pair Racing Gulf Cup | BMW M3 | 2 | |
| Rustavi Motorpark Pre-Opening Race | Legends | 1 | |
| 2012 | Hill Climb | BMW M3 | 3 |
| Pair Racing | BMW M3 | 1 | |
| Bridgestone Black Sea Cup[11] | BMW M3 | 2 | |
| Circuit Racing Championship of Georgia | Legends | 2 | |
| Euro Nations Cup | Legends | 1 | |
| 2013 | Circuit Racing Championship of Georgia | Legends | 1 |
| Euro Nations Cup | Legends | 1 | |
| 2014 | Circuit Racing Championship of Georgia | Legends | 2 |
| European SuperCup | Legends | 1 | |
| 2015 | European Touring Car Cup | BMW 320 TC | 1 |
Racing career summary
edit| Season | Series | Team | Races | Wins | Poles | F/Laps | Podiums | Points | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Legends Cars Georgia | MIA Force | 3 | 0 | ? | 0 | 1 | 22 | 11th |
| 2013 | Legends Cars Georgia | MIA Force | 12 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 10 | ? | 1st |
| 2014 | Legend SuperCup | Team Georgia | 23 | 11 | 4 | 9 | 20 | 950 | 1st |
| MW-V6 Pickup Series | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 50 | 8th | ||
| 2015 | European Touring Car Cup - TC2T | Liqui Moly Team Engstler | 12 | 5 | 9 | 11 | 12 | 149 | 1st |
| 2016 | TCR International Series | Liqui Moly Team Engstler | 22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 80 | 10th |
| 2017 | TCR International Series | GE-Force | 20 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 77 | 11th |
| TCR Middle East Series | Mulsanne Racing | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 56 | 4th | |
| 2019 | TCR Europe Touring Car Series | PCR Sport With Georgia | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 52 | 23rd |
| 2021 | BMW M2 Cup Germany | Project 1 | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | 126 | 4th |
| 2023 | TCR Eastern Europe Trophy | Mertel Motorsport | 12 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 129 | 4th |
| 2024 | TCR Eastern Europe Trophy | Mertel Motorsport | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 64 | 9th |
| GT Cup Open Europe | |||||||||
| TCR Europe Touring Car Series | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC† |
† As Kajaia was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points.
Complete TR International Series results
edit(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | DC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR | BHR 1 6 |
BHR 2 4 |
EST 1 13 |
EST 2 7 |
SPA 1 7 |
SPA 2 14 |
IMO 1 3 |
IMO 2 8 |
SAL 1 7 |
SAL 2 Ret |
OSC 1 8 |
OSC 2 Ret |
SOC 1 7 |
SOC 2 11 |
CHA 1 10 |
CHA 2 5 |
MRN 1 17† |
MRN 2 8 |
SEP 1 Ret |
SEP 2 10 |
MAC 1 15 |
MAC 2 15 |
10th | 80 |
| 2017 | GE-Force | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | RIM 1 1 |
RIM 2 6 |
BHR 1 Ret |
BHR 2 15† |
SPA 1 18 |
SPA 2 7 |
MNZ 1 16† |
MNZ 2 7 |
SAL 1 7 |
SAL 2 11 |
HUN 1 11 |
HUN 2 Ret |
OSC 1 16 |
OSC 2 9 |
CHA 1 8 |
CHA 2 23† |
ZHE 1 8 |
ZHE 2 Ret |
DUB 1 10 |
DUB 2 10 |
12th | 76 |
† Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 75% of the race distance.
Complete TCR Europe Touring Car Series results
edit(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | DC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | PCR Sport With Georgia | CUPRA León TCR | HUN 1 17 |
HUN 2 10 |
HOC 1 17 |
HOC 2 24 |
SPA 1 6 |
SPA 2 Ret |
RBR 1 7 |
RBR 2 Ret |
OSC 1 Ret |
OSC 2 22† |
CAT 1 |
CAT 2 |
MNZ 1 |
MNZ 2 |
23rd | 52 |
| 2024 | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type R TCR (FL5) | VAL 1 |
VAL 2 |
ZOL 1 |
ZOL 2 |
SAL 1 |
SAL 2 |
SPA 1 |
SPA 2 |
BRN 1 11 |
BRN 2 12 |
CRT 1 |
CRT 2 |
NC‡ | 0‡ |
† Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance. ‡ As Kajaia was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points.
References
edit- ^ "Cup of Europe has been taken by Georgian driver Data Kajaia". GHN News Agency. 15 October 2012. Archived from the original on 24 November 2012. Retrieved 15 October 2012.
- ^ "Minister of Internal Affairs awarded champion racer of "MIA Force" Data Kajaia". Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs. 15 November 2013. Retrieved 15 November 2013.
- ^ "Data Kajaia Won Another Race in Europe". WorldSport.Ge Sports News Agency. 19 May 2013. Retrieved 19 May 2013.
- ^ "Data Kajaia wins at the Circuit Clermont-Ferrand". 24 Saati (24 Hours) News Agency. 22 May 2013. Archived from the original on 22 May 2013. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
- ^ "Irakli Garibashvili rewarded racing driver Data Kajaia". National Public Broadcaster (TV-1). 15 November 2013. Archived from the original on 27 January 2014. Retrieved 15 November 2013.
- ^ "Minister of Internal Affairs Gharibashvili – sports club "MIA FORCE" – racing driver Data Kajaia awarded twice with the European Nations Cup". TV 9. 15 November 2013. Retrieved 15 November 2013.
- ^ "Data Kajaia was awarded by Garibashvili". TV Imedi. 15 November 2013. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 15 November 2013.
- ^ "Racing driver Data Kajaia rewarded by minister Irakli Garibashvili". New Posts Information Agency. 15 November 2013. Retrieved 15 November 2013.
- ^ "Legends SuperCup Championship points" (PDF). 15 November 2014.
- ^ "I could have won in Brno, says ETCC ace Kajaia | FIA ETCC – European Touring Car Cup". fiaetcc.com. Archived from the original on 29 September 2015.
- ^ "Bridgestone Black Sea Cup – Georgia – Batumi". Motul Official Website. 23 August 2012. Retrieved 23 August 2012.