Actor Ajith Kumar, who recently finished fourth at the Barcelona 24H Race and third in the AM class of the Michelin Creventic Porsche GT3 Cup, spoke about his enduring passion for racing and dismissed the perception that the sport is reserved only for the affluent.

In an interview with India Today's Akshita Nandagopal in Barcelona, he said, "Racing is anything but glamourous. If you look at most of the drivers on the grid in any series, 80 per cent of the drivers are struggling to find sponsors. And believe me, they are some of the best drivers in the world."

Laying down suggestions for the development of motorsports in India, Ajith shared, "In a country of over 1.4 billion people, it is wrong for us to expect funding from the state or central government, because they have other pressing issues to deal with. What they can instead do is direct the corporates to support this sport and give recognition for this that it deserves. While there are national events that are being conducted, that alone isn't enough."

He further underlined its demanding nature and added, "Leave aside the money part. There are 60 cars on the grid. It also costs a lot of money to move the car from one country to another. The customs process that are involved is also complicated. If the government could ease the process, we might have one round of the Asian Creventic series in India."

Ajith, who received the Padma Bhushan award earlier this year, returned to the racing circuit after a 15-year hiatus and made a strong comeback, securing a podium finish at the Dubai 24H in January this year. This win marks the team's second podium finish.

While the Indian flag is flying high with pride in Spain, the news and the celebrations are currently kept under the radar, as Ajith reportedly doesn't want the spotlight to turn upon racing amidst the Karur stampede tragedy.

The actor was last seen in Adhik Ravichandran's Good Bad Ugly. The film also starred Trisha, Arjun Das, Sunil, Prabhu, Prasanna, Karthikeya Dev, Priya Prakash Varrier, Jackie Shroff, Shine Tom Chacko, Tinnu Anand, BS Avinash and Raghu Ram.