JK Tyre National Karting Championship

SPORTS/ADVENTURE

9th JK Tyre National Rotax MaxKarting Championship

Got off to a flyerat the JK Tyre-MMS Kartainment Track in Hyderabad

The final round of the 9th JK Tyre National Rotax MaxKarting Championship got off to a flyer at the JK Tyre-MMS Kartainment Track in Hyderabad today. The qualifying rounds and the two heats witnessed top class racing with the best karting drivers of the country giving it their all in a bid to be crowned ‘National Karting Champions’. Championship leaders Pradyumn V Danigond (Team Mohites Racing), Kush Maini (Team Maini Racing) and Ameya Bafna (Team Rayo Racing) took the honours on the day in the Micro Max, Junior Max and Senior Max classes respectively.

The Micro Max class as has been through the series was the most closely fought battle, this time between the board leader Pradyumn V Danigond and Mira Kirit Erda (Team Maini Racing). While Pradyumn got pole position in Heat 1, the end was a near photo-finish with Mirapipping Pradyumn by 0.103 seconds. Like Heat 1, Heat 2 too was a close affair with Pradyumn getting his revenge by beating Mira albeit by a margin of 0.385 seconds. Phaneesh HB (Team Mohites Racing) who is second on the standings finished third in both the Heats. With five points separating Phaneesh and Mira, the race for the second spot on the championship standing is still very much on.

In the Junior Max category the day clearlybelonged to Kush Maini (Team Maini Racing). Celebrating his twelfth birthday today, the Bangalore-youngster dominated the proceedings in both the Heats, strengthening his chances to bag the title. Maini – leading the championship standings- showed class and stamped his authority by finishing 2.42 seconds and 7.481seconds ahead of Krsiharaj Mahadik (Team Mohites Racing) in Heat 1 and 2respectively. Dhruv Mohite – third on the leadership board (Team Mohites Racing) had an off day finishing 7th in Heat 1 and 8th in Heat 2 – would like to put the day behind him and put his best foot forward tomorrow, in the races that count.

Championship leader in the Senior Maxclass, Ameya Bafna (Team Rayo Racing) had a very good outing today setting thepace from the Qualifying round through to Heat 2. Keeping him company throughthe day was team-mate Anshuman Chatterjee, he finished 1.601 seconds and 3.391seconds behind Bafna in Heat 1 and Heat 2 respectively. Chatterjee displayed outstanding racing temperament to stave off veterans Vishnu Prasad (Team MecoRacing) in Heat 1 and Chittesh Mandody (Team Mohites Racing) in Heat 2 toretain his second position in both the races. Second on the leadership board Mithun Ganatra (Team Maini Racing) will have to come up with a better performance tomorrow to keep the position which is being threatened by the in-form Chatterjee.

The final day of the definitive karting championship of the country promises to be a thriller where besides being crowned champions, an opportunity of lifetime – to represent India at Rotax World Finals to be held in Portugal later this year – awaits the racers!

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 motorsport.

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. The series has to its credit of producing as many as six of the current Formula One drivers, including reigning two- time champion Sebastian Vettel. 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.