Paro, (Bhutan), March 1: : As the JK Tyre Himalayan Drive 7 entered its final two stages, Delhi’s
Gagan Sethi scripted a gallant fightback to move up to the third position here late on Thursday evening.
The JK Tyre Hornbill TSD Driver champion Gagan Sethi and co-driver Rajkumar Mundra, who were not in the reckoning after the initial stages, showed great precision and skill to make up for their opening day's loss and get back into the championship mix.
While there were lot of unfortunate incidents with top contenders Pratick Sirkar (& co-driver Debashish Ghosh) and Ratan Pal (& co-driver Prasenjit Roy) dropping out of contention with DNFs, it was two-defending champion Ali Asgar and his navigator Md. Musthafa who held on to their slender lead to keep their dream alive of completing a rare hat-trick.
Yogendra and his co-driver Nagarajan Thangaraj, who started their day in the second position, managed to hold on to that position, even narrowing down the lead and threatening the leaders.
With leg three of India's only multi-nation TSD (Time, Speed, Distance) from Paro (Bhutan) to Kalimpong being cancelled due to heavy snowfall, the drivers will head straight to Leg 4 which will be flag-offed from Jaigaon while the final leg will see the competitors traverse from Kalimpong to Siliguri.
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
Monsum Hazarika
Mob: +91 9999648056
CALENDAR 2024
