Coimbatore, October 12: Round 3 of the 21st JK Tyre FMSCI National Racing Championship will roar to life here on Saturday, with the Chennai trio of Ashwin Datta, Vishnu Prasad and Joseph Matthew looking to consolidate their positions on the leaderboard.
Ashwin, who had surprised everyone with speed and guile this season, has managed to stay ahead of the pack with three podium finishes in the Euro JK 18 category. He (51 points) will be looking anxiously over this shoulder as he has a slender two-point lead.
Nayan Chatterjee (49 points) was breathing fire in Round 2 and will be keen to carry that momentum forward to stake his claim for the championship in the final round next month.
"The championship has reached a very exciting stage, with anyone capable of winning in each of the championships," Sanjay Sharma, Head of JK Motorsports, said. "It is going to be an intense battle this weekend," he added.
In the LGB 4 category, MSport's Vishnu was at his imperious best in the last round, winning two races and finishing second in one to gather a total of 28 points. With a total of 50 points from two rounds, he will look to go for the kill and widen the gap further at the top. Vishnu, however will be wary of his buddy and team-mate Raghul Rangasamy who is not to far behind him at 45 points.
In the JK Tyre Novice Cup, all eyes will be on 14-year-old Tijil Rao of Momentum Motorsports, who annexed his maiden win to end the round with 13 points. He is currently sitting on the third spot in the championship standings. Tijil's teammate Siddharth Mehdiratta is currently leading the standings with 16 points, but Viswas Vijayaraj (15 points) is fiercely on his tail.
Defending Champion Joseph Matthew of Chennai continues to rule the Suzuki Gixxer Cup. He is is yet to drop a point in the championship and has four wins out of four for a grand total of 40 points in his kitty. He will be the man to beat once again.
JK Tyre has always been closely associated with the world of sports. Almost three decades back the company laid down a long term and sustained approach to promote Motorsport. Participating in this form of the sport has helped the company in continuously updating its products to meet the challenges of gruelling Indian conditions. The sport at that time in India was perceived for elite but JK Tyre took upon itself to package and redesign the sport to suit the masses. The company not only made the sport affordable but also equivalent to International operating standards. JK Tyre’s foray into Motorsport was a well thought out strategic decision to not only use and develop this virgin branding platform but also to realize the dreams of making India a force in the field of motor sport.
In 2011, the company acquired the Formula BMW Series and rechristened it as the JK Racing Asia Series (JKRAS). With this acquisition, JK Tyre created history in Indian Motorsport by becoming the first Indian company to acquire an FIA accredited series. By taking over the series, JK Tyre promises to utilize it as a platform to encourage and support the world’s best racing drivers and promote India as one of Asia’s motorsport capitals.
Thus, JK Tyre has conquered two steps in the motorsport program where the new racing aspirants first establish themselves in
India, then graduate to Asian level i.e. to Formula BMW, which is now JKRAS and then they move to higher levels of racing. JK Tyre now stands closer to achieving its mission of bringing world-class motorsport to the Indian masses. The Racing and Karting programme by JK Tyre has been the breeding ground for the country's motorsport talents like Narain Karthikeyan, Armaan Ebrahim, Karun Chandhok, Aditya Patel and other emerging talent.
Another pioneering initiative was the launch of the Truck Racing Championship in India in partnership with Tata Motors. The company developed & designed “JetRacing”-the new generation truck racing tyres especially for this application. With this, JK Tyre became the first tyre company to produce truck racing tyres in India. The combination of the Prima trucks fitted with Jet Racing received an overwhelming response from participants and has definitely brought in a revolution in the Indian racing scenario.
Anwesh Koley
anwesh.koley@jkmail.com
Monsum Hazarika
monsumh@gmail.com
Mob: +91 9999648056
CALENDAR 2024
