JK Tyre National Karting Championship gets complete overhaul in 2019

JK Motorsport and the authorized promoter and organizer Meco Motorsports, have completely revamped the JK Tyre National Karting Championship this year. The revamp aims to prepare new drivers better for the future.

The championship will now have three subsets: JK Tyre 4-stroke Sodi Kart Sprint Karting Championship, the X-30 Karting and the Rotax Karting.

The 4-stroke Sodi Karts is an entry-level category with a Sodi Kart chassis from France, paired with a four-stroke Honda GX 200 engine. Top speeds are around 70 kmph. These are meant to provide an equal opportunity to all participants. The karts all run with the same setup, further levelling things. The only differentiation is between the Junior and Senior classes.

Progressing from this, winners of the four-stroke championship will get an option to choose between the X-30 and Rotax. The X-30 and Rotax winners from the Junior and Senior classes only will go on to participate in their respective world finals and also get a sponsored drive in the LGB-4 championship during the JK National Racing Championship.

The X-30s are powered by 125cc IAME X30 two-stroke engines and sit on chassis from Praga, both from Italy. So these are single make again and do 120 kmph. There are three classes, Cadet, Junior and Senior Classes for varying age groups.

The Rotax is similarly quick but differently set up, by the six teams Peregrine Racing, Birel Art Racing, Rayo Racing, Erda Racing, RD Racing, and MSport.

Races for the X-30 and Rotax will be held in Bangalore and Hyderabad while the Sodi races will be held in Bangalore, Cochin, Bhopal, Chandigarh and Delhi. All three will see five rounds starting end May, leading up to December.

Sanjay Sharma, head of JK Motorsport said of these plans, "We have repackaged our entire karting programme this season, with the main aim of getting more and more people exposed to the sport and also to make it affordable for them. We went back to the drawing board and decided to get back the four-stroke karting event back in the championship. The championship which was the most sought-after event in the 2000s not just attracted hundreds of participants but also drew viewers in huge numbers because of the added entertainment quotient. Along with giving them exposure to the very first level of motorsport, participants who would want to pursue it seriously will now have an option to choose from X-30 and Rotax, both internationally acclaimed two-stroke karting championships. Therefore, a participant can start from four-stroke karting, move on to two-stroke, thereafter to Indian make Formula Car (LGB), to JK Euro to Formula 3 and so on."

Emphasising their intention to bring more women into racing, Sharma said, "In our continuing efforts to bring more and more girls in motorsport, this year we are also launching the FIA accredited 'Girls on Track' program which is aimed at getting girls on the track and give them a feeler of the professional motor-racing world by testing their skills on karts and on bikes and through various race related activities. The Girls on Track program will run alongside the four stroke karting events which will ensure more participation. So, our followers can expect an action packed karting season this year."