India’s Formula 3 star Karun Chandhok showed more signs of progress along with his T-Sport team with strong runs to 8th and 5th during the two rounds of the British Formula 3 Championship held at the Croft circuit in Yorkshire. The two top 10 results were Chandhok’s first point scoring finishes in the Championship class of Formula 3.
On Saturday the 20 year old had recorded his highest qualifying positions of the season with 10th places for both the races on Sunday but still was frustrated by how things ended up, “ The car was working well and this is a circuit I enjoy. In the first qualifying session I did only two laps when the session was interrupted and after that the tyres were never as good. In the second session, I had to pass a slower car on my best lap, which cost me some time. I’m really quite irritated because we should’ve been in the top 6. Still, we’re ahead of some big names and I think our race set up for tomorrow is quite good.”
In race 1, Karun didn’t make a great start but as the field came through the first complex, he capitalized on Will Power’s mistake to move ahead of the Aussie on lap 1. From there on, he battled as part of a 7 car bunch including Nelson Piquet Jr, Ernesto Viso, Lucas di Grassi, Danny Watts, Andrew Thompson and Clivio Piccione. Lap after lap the train of cars ran nose to tail with the drivers all having a small look to try and pass. Rising temperatures caused excessive tyre wear for the drivers and they were having to really concentrate on keeping things neat and tidy. Viso, who was the leader of the pack, was the one to suffer when he clipped a tire barrier causing damage to his suspension. Karun explains, “It’s very difficult to pass in F3 because the cars are so aerodynamic. Di Grassi wasn’t very quick and he was holding Danny and me up but there was no way around him. I had a few looks to try and pass Danny but there was no chance. It was a bit frustrating, but at the end of the day I was reasonably happy to finish 8th and take some points.”
Race 2 was a much better affair for the Madras born driver. Having made a good start and picked his way through a messy first corner, Karun moved up three places on the opening lap and set off after Adam Carroll and Clivio Piccione. After a short safety-car intervention, the battle resumed between the man from Monaco, the Irishman and the Indian. But it was to be short lived as Carroll retired with engine failure while his team-mate Viso crashed on the same lap. Karun talks us through, “ My start was good and I got ahead of the Estonian driver Markko Asmer and then held onto the inside because I knew that there’ll be trouble at the first corner. I was chasing after Carroll and Clivio but also looking after the tyres because I knew that they would loose grip very rapidly. After Adam dropped out I stayed close to Clivio and di Grassi but was unable to find a way past. I’m really happy to finish in the top 5. Our pace in the race was as good as the guys around us, and a big thank you to the whole team at T-Sport and Neil Browns (who build the engines) who have worked very hard to achieve this result.”
