New season of JK Karting ready to roll

Championship serves as the foundation for young racers

The JK Tyre National karting championship commences with the first round of the JK Tyre X-30 Cadet, Junior & Senior Classes on Friday.

The new season will consist of three sub-sets — JK Tyre 4-stroke Sodi Kart Sprint Karting Championship (4-stroke), X-30 Karting and Rotax Karting.

The championship serves as the foundation for young racers, as it has done for the likes of Karun Chandhok, Armaan Ebrahim, Aditya Patel, Arjun Maini and Kush Maini in the past. The Sodi Kart uses a four-stroke Honda GX 200 engine, and is an entry level category.

The X-30 is powered by 125cc IAME X30 2-stroke engines from Italy, with a top speed of 120 kmph.

The Rotax is the most sought-after class, and is run on international parameters. The winner of this class will compete in the Rotax Max World Finals.

Talking about the karting programme, Sanjay Sharma, head of JK Motorsport, said the idea is to get more people exposed to the sport and make it affordable to all.

“We went back to the drawing board and decided to get back the four-stroke karting event back in the championship as it was the most sought-after event in the 2000. It not only attracted hundreds of participants but also drew viewer in huge numbers because of the added entertainment quotient,” he added.