JK Tyre National Racing Championship kicked off in Coimbatore

Round 1 of JK Tyre National Racing Championship was kick-started last weekend at the Kari Motor Speedway, Coimbatore. Multiple series that run under JK Tyre National Racing Championship include Volkswagen Vento Cup, JK Racing India series and Formula LGB 4 class. The championship is currently in its 18th season and will comprise of four rounds and 32 races. The first two rounds will be held at Kari Motor Speedway and the remaining two at Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida. More than 60 competitors, both rookie and seasoned drivers, from different parts of the country will be racing each other.

JK Tyre has consistently improved the level of this championship since its inception. The team of race officials now comprises of the best technical staff from India as well as from abroad. The official Race Director this time is Alessandro Ferrari, who has an experience of overlooking operations for over 1000 races internationally while the safety of the championship is taken care of by 7-time national champion Hari Singh.

JK Racing India Series, which was earlier known as Formula BMW, started its roots from circuits of Asia and Europe but was reprogrammed and tailor-made for the Indian race drivers in 2013. These extremely powerful FB02 cars utilises Mygale chassis and a 1.2 litre BMW bike engine.

This time, JK Tyre has reserved two seats in FB02 class for the international racers to increase the competition in the series. FB02 cars are highly-sophisticated Formula cars that have been the breeding ground of many Formula 1 racers. Out of the 12 competitors in this series, the overall champion will get an opportunity to test the Team Euro International Formula 3 cars.

Formula LGB 4 is a made-in-India Formula car and is considered as the first step to single-seater racing in the country. A total of 22 competitors in this series will represent four different teams namely, Meco Racing, Rayo Racing, Dark Don racing and Avalanche Racing.

Volkswagen has switched from Polo R Cup to Vento Cup for this season. The Vento Cup has a grid of 22 drivers, some of them are experienced while others are rookies. It will continue to operate on the same lines of last year's Polo R cup.