Having sought the wider, continental stage for the last couple of years, JK Tyres is sharpening its focus considerably. For the 2013 season, they have done away with the Asian Racing series with the Formula BMW event that aims to give exclusively young Indian drivers the exposure to technically advanced cars.
“This is a big step for us, a bold step,” said the company’s head of motorsports, Sanjay Sharma, at the launch of the five-round JK Tyre Racing Championship here on Thursday.
“We had to address the issue of benefiting Indian drivers. With this series, we hope that the gap will be bridged in the sense that our racing talent will get to drive better cars in a competitive series.
“The Formula One race, Superbikes and other events are coming into the country, but where are the drivers, the next crop? There is a huge void. That’s why we have come up with his programme,” added Sharma.
Against the JK Racing Asia Series that was run at was held at various continental and European venues, the 2013 schedule will be run at Coimbatore, Chennai and Greater Noida, besides a street race, tentatively marked down for Srinagar.
The opening meeting will be at Coimbatore (July 19 to 21), followed by Chennai (August 9 to 11). The fourth (September 27 to 29) and fifth rounds (November 29 to December 1) will be held at the Buddh International Circuit, and pending relevant clearances, the street race at Srinagar (or an alternate venue) from September 6 to 8.
If Srinagar does not get go ahead, Round Three will be held at either Goa or Pune.
The Formula BMW series will be held with the technical expertise of racing team Eurointernational, winner of several Formula championships globally, Sharma said.
Eurointernational will provide their superior cars for the series, in which 12 Indian drivers would compete.
They will bring FB02 cars with the Mygale chassis powered by 1.2 ltr BMW engines.
Winners of national junior and senior karting championships along with the LGB series winner and others will get a chance to compete in the series.