JK Tyre Racing Championship to start this weekend

Coimbatore will host Round 1 of the 18th season of the JK Tyre Racing Championship at the 2.1 km Kari Motor Speedway on August 8 and 9.

Spread over four rounds and 32 races, the first two rounds will be held in Coimbatore while the last two will take place at the Buddh International Circuit (BIC) in Greater Noida.

Over 60 rookie and seasoned drivers from across the country will line up to battle it out for the titles and will compete in three different classes -- JK Racing India Series, Volkswagen Vento Cup and Formula LGB 4.

Alessandro Ferrari, who has overseen operations of over 1,000 races internationally, will be the race director for the series.

After travelling through circuits in Asia and Europe, the JK Racing Asia Series was reprogrammed for Indian race drivers and was rechristened as the JK Racing India Series in 2013. In its third year, the series will feature FB02 cars with a Mygale chassis powered by a 1.2 litre BMW bike engine.

There will be a total of 12 races this season. Two seats have been reserved for experienced international drivers who will compete against Indians to give the latter more exposure. The overall champion will get an opportunity to test in Formula 3 with Team Euro International.

The Indian make Formula LGB 4 is the first step to single-seater racing. The grid comprises of 22 drivers from four teams -- Meco Racing, Rayo Racing, Dark Don Racing and Avalanche Racing.

The category promises some electrifying action when Vishnu Prasad, Chittesh Mandody, Kartik Shankar, Ajay Kini, Ameya Bafna, Arya Gandhi and Krishnaraj Mahadik will fight for the championship. There will be a total of 12 races. The champion will get a fully sponsored drive in the JK Racing India Series in 2016.

Significantly, this year will see Volkswagen making a shift from the Polo Cup to Vento Cup. The Vento Cup will make its debut in Coimbatore with a grid of 22 drivers.

Based on the same lines as that of Polo R Cup, Vento Cup will serve as a one-make series with equally prepared cars for eight races. The overall champion will also get a fully sponsored drive in the 2016 JK Racing India Series.

To add to it, women participants will increase this year. Mumbai's Sneha Sharma, who is a pilot, and Mira Erda, a karter from Vadodara, will take part in Formula LGB 4 while rookies Ria Dabas and Neha Dabas from here will take part in the Vento Cup.

After the first round in Coimbatore this weekend, Round 2 will also be held at the Kari Motor Speedway from September 4 to 6. The last two rounds at BIC will be held in October and November.

The series will be webcasted live on www.jktyremotorsport.com.