JK Tyre launches Asian race series

In a move it refers to as the “biggest announcement in Indian motorsport in recent times,” JK Tyre has officially launched the JK Racing Asia Series, a championship sponsored by the tyre maker and managed by Motorsport Asia, the region’s largest promoter and organiser of motorsport events. The series gets underway in April and the 2011 season will consist of 18 races held over six weekend events in Malaysia, Korea, Indonesia, China, Singapore and India. On three occasions the JK Racing Asia Series will support the Formula One Grand Prix.

“Firstly, congratulations to JK Tyre for another great achievement for their group,” said Motorsport Asia CEO David Sonenscher at the series launch. “We at Motorsport Asia are proud to be associated to a brand that takes pride in all its motorsport endeavours and who are always striving to help better the industry. The JK Racing Asia Series is truly an excellent Series that has helped to groom many of the talented race drivers we see out there today. We are also excited to be coming here later this year to end our first race season with JK Tyre at the newly built Jaypee International Race Circuit.”

JK Tyre & Industries Ltd vice chairman & managing director Dr. Raghupati Singhania added: “It is a very proud moment for our company today as we announce the launch of the prestigious JK Racing Asia Series. It has been our company’s vision and mission to ensure a global presence for India in the world of motorsport and we have worked endlessly to achieve that. Our commitment to and tryst with motorsport in India began with the Himalayan Car Rally, almost three decades back. In these three decades, we have catapulted that commitment to the global arena from participation of our prodigies in the revered international series to today becoming the promoters of Asia biggest single seater series.” Singhania added that the “Formula JK Tyre Pacific” race cars to be used in the series will run on JK Tyres. The carbon-fibre Kevlar vehicles are fitted with 1.2 litre BMW engines that generate 140bhp and provide a top speed of 230 km/h.

The Indian tyre maker states the series is “in sync” with its philosophy of identifying and developing young racing talent, and it says the JK Racing Asia Series is for the “most talented drivers rather than just the most financially healthy.” For this reason, adds JK Tyre, both the car and series training programme have been devised so that little, if any, advantage can be obtained by extra investment. “JK Tyre has lived up to their mission of making India the motorsports hub of Asia. JK Tyre’s efforts towards identifying, nurturing and promoting young talent is commendable,” commented Vicky Chandhok, president of the Federation of Motorsports Club of India.

“India is spearheading motorsport development in the region and with the growth of our economy and the interest level of corporates in motorsport, this will further strengthen the efforts of people associated with the sport. F1 coming to India, the launch of the JK Racing Asia Series, the two Indian drivers on the F1 radar bears testimony to this fact. 2011 truly is a year of motorsports in India”, Mr. Chandhok added.

According to JK Tyre, the series will be televised in more than 100 countries, with more than ten thousand minutes of coverage going out to a potential audience of over 612 million people.