Chennai, April 14: After enjoying fair success last year, the JK Tyre Road Racing Challenge Cup for 1300cc Group `N' Esteem (stock) and FISSME (Formula India Single Seater Maruti Engine) cars has been granted a National Championship status this season which gets under way at the Irungattukottai track here on Sunday.The other four rounds of the event, which will be called as JK Tyre National Racing Championship '99, have been scheduled for June, July, August and September.According to Sanjay Sharma, Manager, Motor Sport and Event Management, JK Tyre, the five-round, 10-race event introduced last year, was upgraded by the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI), the country's governing body for motor sport.``We can now announce the winner of the Championship, based on cumulative points at the end of the 10 rounds, as a National champion,'' he said at a press briefing here on Tuesday.If anything, the grid this year, especially in the Esteem category, would be larger with the Madras MotorSports Club receiving entries from Calcutta, Mumbai, Bangalore and Kodagu (Karnataka).In a departure from last year's format, each of the five rounds will comprise two races over five and 10 laps, as against five and five in 1998, according to KD Madan, Vice-President, MMSC. The total prize-money on offer is Rs 1.65 lakhs. The points system would be: For 10 laps - 20 (first), 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1; For 5 laps - 12 to 1.
