by NR Indran / INT

JK Tyre Volkswagen Polo R Cup drivers, Vishnu Prasad and Avdumber Hede will be a part of a driver exchange programme through which they will get an opportunity to compete with international drivers in the Volkswagen Polo Cup China to be held at Shanghai Tianma Circuit, Shanghai. Through this initiative Volkswagen combines its racing series across the globe with an exchange programme where these drivers experience different driving conditions and get a peek behind the scenes of an international single make racing series.
 
The Indian Drivers will participate in the 5th round, the season finale of Volkswagen Polo Cup China from 30th September 2011 to 2nd October 2011 at the Shanghai Tianma Circuit, a permanent circuit located in the Sheshan Songjiang district of Shanghai in the People’s Republic of China. The Indian drivers will have a Practice session and a drivers briefing session of 30 minutes each on Friday. On Saturday, post the 30 minute free practice session and the qualifying, they will compete against the drivers from China and Hong Kong in a 15-lap Race 1 over a 2.063-kilometre track. Race 2, which is again 15 laps, will be held on Sunday. These Indian drivers have been selected by Volkswagen Motorsport based on the consistency in their performance throughout the current JK Tyre Volkswagen Polo R Cup season. Vishnu and Avdumber form part of the top 3 drivers in the Championship standings so far.
 
Head of Volkswagen Motorsport India, Prithviraj Siddappa said, ㏵r international exchange programme enables the participants to gather valuable experience in racing series that are new to them and to compete with other young drivers there. The new circuit will be challenging for the drivers but they have shown throughout the season so far that they are ready to take on whatever lies ahead of them, to continue learning and making progress. Both are strong contenders for the championship title in India this year.䠼/span>
 
The premise of the JK Tyre-Volkwasgen association is to give an international platform to Indian racers and integrate them with global benchmarks. Already within one year of association, Indian racing talents such as Aditya Patel and Sailesh Bolisetti have been sent to Scirocco Cup in Europe.
 
Sanjay Sharma, Head Motorsports, JK Tyre & Industries Limited said, ㏶er the last two decades, JK Tyre has produced some of the finest talent in motorsports in India. From Narain Karthikeyan, to Karun Chandhok to Aditya Patel, and now Vishnu Prasad and Avdumber Hede, these boys are the beacon for motorsports in the country. With Formula One also arriving in India, we foresee a gush in motorsports talent and this global platform provided by JK Tyre and Volkswagen will truly enable Indian racing talent to go global. It is very important for these young race drivers to gather as much international experience as they can behind the wheels of a race car on a challenging circuit and I am sure this will be an enriching experience. I wish both the drivers all the very best.伯span>
 
With Vishnu and Avdumber now going to China, the JK Tyre- Volkswagen partnership plans to accelerate its exchange programme where these drivers experience different driving conditions and get a peek behind the scenes of an international single-make racing series.
 
Second in contention for the JK Tyre Volkswagen Polo R Cup India 2011 Championship Trophy, Vishnu said, 㔨e Shanghai Tianma Circuit will definitely be a challenging one. Since it is new to me, I’ll have to get familiarized with it in a short period of time. Even though I will be driving there for one weekend I will be pushing hard for the best possible result. The Polo Race Car in China is similar to the Polo Race Car in India, so I am hoping that will help me to settle down easily.伯span>
 
Visibly excited about the opportunity, Avdumber said, ㉴ is a great feeling to be selected for the Polo Cup Exchange programme and I would like to thank JK Tyre and Volkswagen Motorsport for presenting me with this opportunity. It is the first time I would be racing on an international track and I am really excited to see how I perform. I hope to make the most of it.伯span>
 
The Polo Cup China race cars are powered by a 1.6 petrol engine in conjunction with a 5 speed gear box that produces 77kW of power at 5250rpm and 155Nm of torque at 3750rpm.
 
The Polo Cup China is organized by Federation of Automobile Sports of China (FASC), Shanghai Automobile and Motor Sports Association. A total of 21 drivers from the age group of 18 – 30 years from the PeopleⳠRepublic of China and Hong Kong participate in the Championship. The JK Tyre Volkswagen Polo R Cup India sees a line-up of 20 talented, young Indian drivers in the age group of 16 – 24 years compete with each other for the title. This initiative will provide the Indian Drivers with an opportunity to prove their skills in completely unfamiliar circumstances and know how well they are placed among a very competitive field of international drivers.

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