- The challenge to reach out to 1.5 lac students through 300 schools targeted at 12-16 year olds giving them free of cost participation
- Top finisher to be awarded scholarship of upto Rs 10 lacs and professional training by Amaron Pro Racing with MECO Motorsports
- Special support races for college goers and corporate professionals above 16 years of age
Amaron Pro Racing, a corporate motorsport initiative of the leading automotive & industrial battery maker Amara Raja Batteries Ltd today announced the launch of India’s largest karting challenge ‘Amaron Karting Challenge Season 3’. The launch was announced in the august presence of Mr. Jayadev Galla, MD, Amara Raja Batteries Limited, Mr. Mackinlay Barreto, Head - Motorsport, Amaron Pro Racing, Amaron brand ambassadors Karun Chandok, Armaan Ebrahim, Aditya Patel and Coach Akbar Ebrahim.
The winner of AKC Season 3 will be rewarded with a scholarship of up to Rs 10 lacs. The top three finishers will be getting once in a life time opportunity to posses self autographed helmets of the F1 driver Karun Chandok, the F2 champ and the GP2 driver Armaan Ebrahim and VW Schirocco Cup driver Aditya Patel. The winner, in addition will be nurtured by Amaron Pro Racing Academy with MECO Motorsports to race in the Rotax Max National Karting Championship. Amaron scholarship programme will further support the winner to get into international racing.
AKC Season 3 will target top 300 schools in India with more than 1.5 lac students from 12-16 years inviting them for the action on the track. The entire process of registration and bringing the amateur participants on the tracks will be supported via sustained online contact programme throughout the season including an elaborate school contact programme wherein kids would be educated on the sport. This year, AKC has added support races targeting over 1 lac students (16+ yrs) from 250 colleges and 0.5 lac professionals from almost 100 corporate houses across India.
‘Amaron Karting Challenge’ is the only talent hunt in India that scouts and discovers talent at the grass root level. Amaron Karting Challenge Season 3 will span across 9 cities namely Coimbatore, Goa Mumbai, Delhi, Kolhapur, Chennai, Chandigarh, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. 6 participants from each region and a total of 54 racers from across India will compete in the grand finale to be held on 7th February 2011 in Hyderabad.
While college and corporate enthusiasts will not compete for the Amaron Karting Challenge Season 3 trophy, they will get a chance to take off speed from the streets to the race tracks. Amaron Karting Challenge supports responsible driving on the city roads and promotes speed on the race track only. The support races of college and corporate enthusiasts will also act as a feeder to the 2011 season of Volkswagen Polo Cup. The officials will monitor lap times of all participants and those posting competitive lap times will be invited to participate for the VW Polo Cup 2011 shoot out.
Announcing the launch of AKC Season 3, Mr. Jayadev Galla, Managing Director, Amara Raja Batteries Ltd. said, “We are extremely proud to bring Amaron Karting Challenge Season 3 to all motorsports enthusiasts of India. Motor sports have always been the bastion of the crème de la crème but with Amaron Karting Challenge we expect to reach out to masses and see many more winners in times to come. We will strive to discover and support the budding race enthusiasts in scaling national and international motor racing events.”
On the onset of AKC Season 3, Mr. Mackinlay Barreto, Head - Motor Sports, Amaron Pro Racing commented, “Amaron Pro Racing remains committed to bring Indian Motorsports and Indian racers to global level. The Amaron Karting Challenge appeals to racers as well as non-racers and the winner of Amaron Karting Challenge Season 3 will get once a life time opportunity to move to the Rotax Karting Championship and the Formula Rolon racing series in India and further be fostered by Amaron Pro Racing to graduate to International grids.”
“India is all set to arrive as a global motorsports destination. With F1 arriving in India next year, the timing is most appropriate for all young racing enthusiasts from India who dream to make it big in the world of motorsports”, he further added.
The ace racer, Coach Akbar Ebrahim of Team Amaron Pro Racing with MECO Motorsports commented on the occasion, “The Amaron Karting Challenge provides a unique opportunity for the Indian youth to try out racing and come to the forefront. Racing is fun but a very demanding and challenging sport. We will put these budding speedsters through strict physical rigor and exemplary practice skills to get their acts together on the race track.”
The Amaron Karting Challenge season 3 winners will be trained at the Amaron Pro Racing Academy with MECO Motorsports as well as tips by the Amaron brand ambassadors. Karting, also known as kindergarten of motorsports, trains racers and wannabe racers from the very beginning. Amaron being a technology and innovation leader in its sector is a staunch patron of technology; motorsports thus is a natural fit. The initiative Amaron Karting Challenge Season 3 by Amaron in support with MECO Motorsports will be in partnership with Microsoft Live@Edu, Volkswagen India and Web 18.
About Amaron Pro Racing
Amaron Pro Racing is supported by the ace racer Akber Ebrahim of MECO Motorsports as its chief coach and boasts of the most promising and youngest ever driver line-up. Amaron brand ambassadors Karun Chandhok (2011 F1 driver), Armaan Ebrahim (India’s F2 champ and GP2 driver), Aditya Patel (VW Schirocco Cup driver) and Narain Karthikeyan (India’s first F1 driver) symbolize Amaron’s superior performance
Apart from the Amaron Karting Challenge, Team Amaron Pro Racing participates in the world-renowned JK Tyre Rotax Max Karting Championship and the National Racing Championship, Formula Swift and Formula Rolon. Team Amaron Pro Racing also fields its drivers in the VW Polo Cup. Team Amaron Pro Racing is the 3-time Indian champions of the international renowned JK Tyre Rotax Max Karting Championship and has successfully represented India in the Rotax Max world finals.
Instrumental in shaping the future of motorsports in India, Amaron Pro Racing conducts several other initiatives: the Amaron Scholarship Program, Amaron Pro Racing Teams, Amaron Pro Racing Academy with MECO Motorsports and the Amaron International Sponsorship programme. Amaron follows an integrated step by step approach towards racing. While Amaron Karting Challenge is about discovering talent at the grassroots, Amaron Scholarship Program sponsor these talents and provide them adequate financial backing. Amaron Pro Racing Academy with MECO Motorsports, train and nurture Indian racers for racing in Indian and abroad. These racers are then supported in their international career as Amaron Brand Ambassadors.
About Volkswagen Motorsport
Volkswagen is committed to broad-scale motor sport as in internationally staged cross-country rally racing programmes in countries including Germany, Europe and the United States apart from other countries in Asia and has a long tradition of promoting young talent. Like the spark that breathes life into a dormant combustion engine, the Polo Cup India was but a tiny idea conceptualised in October 2008. The journey of this thought into one of the biggest single-make touring car series in India is truly inspiring. The process of Volkswagen’s internal discussions in Germany and prospecting of Indian partners culminated in signing of the Letter of Intent with JK Tyre in October 2009. This is when the hard work truly began. Months of grease and sweat lead to unveiling of the Race Polo in the Delhi Auto Expo 2010.A fierce grill and clean lines form the perfect shell to the 1.6-liter R4 common rail diesel (CRD) engine, which can produce a top speed of 180 km/h. Motorsports enthusiasts interested in getting further information can log on to the website,www.polocup.in. This website will display information about the format of the Polo Cup India, race updates and driver profiles.
About Web18
Web18 is the Internet and Mobile arm of Network18, India’s leading media conglomerate. As India’s fastest growing internet company, Web18 owns and manages leading online properties such as Moneycontrol.com, IN.com, IBNLive.com, Cricketnext.com, IBNKhabar.com, Josh18.com, Tech2.com, Biztech2.com, CommoditiesControl.com, PowerYourTrade.com, CompareIndia.com and IndiaEarnings.com.
As the definitive news portal of CNN-IBN, IBNLive.com provides minute-by-minute news updates, live TV and news alerts on mobile, ensuring that the audiences are always the first to know. With regular blogs by some of India’s leading journalists and opinion leaders, IBNLive.com also gives its audiences food for thought in a cluttered cyberspace where news is a mere commodity. Having imbibed the principles of "Inclusive Journalism", the portals unleash an era of true cross media interactivity, with social integration, regular chats, and online discussion forums, with definitive content.
About Microsoft Live@Edu:
Live@edu provides students, staff, faculty, and alumni long-term, primary e-mail addresses and other applications they can use to collaborate and communicate online. Microsoft regularly updates and adds to Live@edu services, so the educational institution can continually expand the set of services offered to students and alumni. Students will be using Microsoft products similar to those used in many workplaces, helping to prepare them for jobs after college. Live@edu can help reduce some of the common problems faced by educations institutions while supporting IT infrastructure, including:
- High maintenance costs.
- Too much time spent maintaining e-mail systems for students and alumni rather than working on more strategic initiatives.
- Lack of common tools for students to communicate and collaborate with others on campus.
- Keeping students safer online and helping to keep their data private.
