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Nashik, June 6, 2013:
Seasoned rally champion Karamjit Singh of Malaysia brings the star power to the 2nd round of the Indian National Rally Championship, thanks to JK Tyre and its association with the Volkswagen Motorsports.
It has been an interesting process that has brought Karamjit Singh, the 2002 Production World Rally Champion, to India for the third time. The rally veteran will be driving for Slideways Industries, which has entered five VW Polo Cars, all running on JK Tyres.
After the first round that was won by Gaurav Gill, now driving for Team Mahindra, the second round makes for an interesting line-up with Karamjit joining the fray at the Rally of Nashik, the only leg that will be contested on tarmac rather than the dusty terrains that are the usual sights during the rally championship.
“We have been thinking of getting back to rallying for a while. To take our partnership with Volkswagen further we have taken this step in association with Slideways Industries to first develop the hardware and thereafter launch a full-fledged program for Team JK Tyre,” says Sanjay Sharma, Head-Motorsport, JK Tyre & Industries Limited.
The seven-time National Rally champions, JK Tyre is getting into this form of the sport after successfully putting racing and karting programs well in place. Though it has been a long gap, JK Tyre has slowly but steadily got back into the rugged side of the motorsport.
Being the official tyre supplier and also a technical partner for the INRC program of Slideways Industries, which is headed by rally enthusiast Shirish Chandran, it will be interesting to see the VW Polo cars perform on tarmac in and around Nashik.
On Thursday, the drivers began from Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan for a ceremonial flag-off and went through the busy Nashik roads in a parade that went through Canada Corner, College Road, Model Colony, Vidya Prabodhini Prashala, Parijat Nagar, Mahatma Nagar, City Centre Mall, Untwadi, Trimurti chowk before ending at Gateway hotel.
“I still am not very familiar with the racing scene in India but I’m looking forward to driving the Polo and making sure the team finishes strongly,” reflected Singh about the job at hand.
Being the only event in Maharashtra, this rally holds much significance for motor sports enthusiasts, who for the first time can witness a home team competing in the rally on home turfs.
“I hope fans will come out in numbers to cheer for their home team,” concluded Karamjit.
