JK Tyre National Racing Championship 2018: Day 1 Action

Day 1 of the 21st JK Tyre National Racing Championship has been settled here at the Kari Motor Speedway in Coimbatore with the weather gods affirming the perfect climate for all the young guns to battle it out on the track. On day 1 this year, we witnessed the premier class Euro JK 18 series as well as the Formula LGB 4 series races. As for the motorcycle series, there were two races – the Gixxer Cup round followed by the Road to Rookie Cup.

The Chennai trio of Ashwin Datta, Vishnu Prasad and Joseph Matthew aimed to consolidate their positions at the top of the leader board as the curtains went up on round 2 of the national racing championship. That said, it was Nayan Chatterjee (from Mumbai), Vishnu Prasad and Joseph Mathew who underlined their class in round 2, winning their respective races in style on day 1. The young lad from the financial capital was at his fastest best in the Euro JK category, making his intentions clear in the morning qualifiers itself. The qualifying session, in fact, saw the entire field finish virtually inside a few breaths of each other, with Nayan clocking the fastest lap time of 1:00.514 minutes. Karthik Tharani claimed the second place in both the races while Sri Lanka’s Brayan Perera and Ashwin Datta shared the third place.

Vishnu Prasad and Joseph Mathew continued their dominance in the LGB 4 and Suzuki Gixxer Cup, picking up 10 points each to hang on to the top position on the championship leader board. Vishnu (MSport) was in a zone as he needed just 17:59.323 to complete his 15 laps. He finished an impressive 2.323 seconds ahead of the entire field of 26 racers. Rohit Khanna (Dark Don Racing) and Raghul Rangasamy (MSport) took the second and third places to maintain their primacy on the points table. Lea Daran proved to be the fastest lady in this category, finishing 15th for Ahura Racing.

This year, as we know, Formula LGB 4 witnessed the participation of an all-girls team. Ahura Racing with their striking red cars and uniforms took to the grid and showed everyone they clearly meant business.

Moving onto two wheels, Joseph Mathew was in his element in the Suzuki Gixxer Gup. He began at the third place in the starting grid but managed to shake the competition and get past the post first. It was a thrilling finish, with Joseph and Syed Muzamil Ali literally going neck and neck in the final stretch. Sachin Chaudhary took third. 

The Red Bull Road to Rookies saw a minor flutter as Jerome Vanlalrengpuia upset the Round 1 winners. He claimed the top place while PC Andy Lalhmangaihsanga and Eshaan Shankar came in behind him.

There was no shortage of action in the JK Tyre Novice Cup either. The recently introduced series, which bridges between karting and formula racing, saw Nellore’s Vishwas Vijayaraj (DTS racing) outshine 21 other racers. Siddharth Mehdiratta of Lucknow and Hashim EKP finished second and third. 

The JY Tyre Novice Cup as well as the Euro JK 18 and Formula LGB4 would return for a second round of races tomorrow and we will be live at the Kari Speedway to bring you all the action so stay tuned!