JK Tyre replace Asia leg with BMW Series

With an aim to give Indian racers the exposure to drive technically advanced cars, JK Tyre has replaced their Asia Series with Formula BMW series which will be exclusive for country’s under-20 racing talents.

Last year JK Racing Asia series was held at various Asian and European venues but this time the five-round series will be held at three places, out of which the third round is marked as a street race, which may be held at picturesque Srinagar.

The season will kick off at Coimbatore (July 19-21) and then move to Chennai (Aug 9-11). The fourth (Sep 27-29) and fifth rounds (Nov 29-Dec 1) will be held at Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida.

The organisers have not yet got a security clearance from FIA, world governing body of the game, for the Srinagar race due to safety concerns on a street circuit.
If Srinagar does not get go ahead, the races of round three will be held at either Goa or Pune from September 6-8.

The Formula BMW series will be held with the technical expertise of renowned racing team Eurointernational, winner of several Formula championships globally.

Eurointernational will provide their superior cars for the series, in which 12 Indian drivers would compete. They will bring FB02 cars with Mygale Chassis powered by 1.2 ltr BMW bike engines. Winners of national junior and senior karting championships along with LGB winner and others will be given the chance to compete in the series free of cost.

It means JK Tyre have invested close to $500,000 to secure these seats for budding racers.

“We had to address the issue of benefiting Indian drivers. With this series, we hope that some gap will be bridged in the sense that our racing talent will get to drive better cars in a competitive series,” Sanjay Sharma, Head Motorsport, JK Tyre and Industries Limited, said.

“Narain (Karthikeyan) and (Karun) Chandhok have gone and guys such as Aditya Patel and Armaan Ebrahim have moved to GT series, so there is a huge void. Where is the next crop? That’s why we have come up with his programme,” he added.