Coimbatore, September 1: Mumbai’s Nayan Chatterjee and the Chennai duo of Vishnu Prasad and Joseph Mathew underlined their class in Round 2 of the JK Tyre FMSCI National Racing Championship here on Saturday, winning their respective races in great style on the opening day here at the Kari Motor Speedway.
Nayan Chatterjee was at his fastest best in the Euro JK 2018 category, making his intentions clear in the morning qualifiers itself. In an incredibly pacy session that saw the entire field finish virtually inside a few breaths of each other, he clocked the fastest lap time of 1:00.514 minutes.
Nayan continued his great run through the day, winning both his races quite comfortably. He collected 16 crucial points to stake his claim for this year’s crown.
Karthik Tharani claimed the second place in both the races while Sri Lanka’s Brayan Perera and Ashwin Datta shared the third place to leave the competition tantalisingly poised.
Vishnu Prasad and Joseph Mathew continued their dominance in the LGB 4 and Suzuki Gixxer Cup, picking up 10 points each to hang on to the top position on the championship leaderboard.
Vishnu (MSport) was in a zone as he needed just 17:59.323 to complete his 15 laps. He finished an impressive 2.323 seconds ahead of the entire field of 26 racers.
Rohit Khanna (Dark Don Racing) and Raghul Rangasamy (MSport) took the second and third places to maintain their primacy on the points table. Lea Daran proved to be the fastest lady in this category, finishing 15th for Ahura Racing.
Joseph Mathew was, like always, in his elements in the Suzuki Gixxer Gup. He began at the third place in the starting grid but managed to shake the competition and get past the post first.
It was a thrilling finish, with Joseph and Syed Muzamil Ali literally going neck and neck in the final stretch. Sachin Chaudhary took the third place.
The Red Bull Road to Rookies saw a minor flutter as Jerome Vanlalrengpuia upset the Round 1 winners. He claimed the top place while PC Andy Lalhmangaihsanga and Eshaan Shankar came in behind him.
The freshly introduced category, the JK Tyre Novice Cup which will be the bridge between karting and formula racing, saw Nellore’s Vishwas Vijayaraj (DTS racing) outshine 21 other racers. Siddharth Mehdiratta of Lucknow and Hashim EKP finished second and third.
Race 1: 1. Nayan Chatterjee; 2. Karthik Tharani; 3. Brayan Perera
Race 2: 1. Nayan Chatterjee; 2. Karthik Tharani; 3. Ashwin Datta
LGB 4: 1. Vishnu Prasad (Msport); 2. Rohit Khanna (Dark Don Racing); 3. Raghul Rangasamy (MSport)
1. Joseph Matthew; 2. Syed Muzammil Ali; 3. Sachin Chaudhary
1. Vishwas Vijayaraj (DTS racing), 2. Siddharth Mehdiratta (Momentum Motorsports), 3. Hashim EKP (DTS racing)
1. Jerome Vanlalrengpuia; 2. PC Andy Lalhmangaihsanga; 3. Eshaan Shankar
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 / +91 875-071-8944
CALENDAR 2024
