India´s rising star Karun Chandhok had a positive start to his programme in the Nissan World Series. The youngster driving for “TATA RC Motorsport” was running in the points in both races before a collision in Race 1 and a slow pitstop in Race 2 ended his chance of a points score on debut.
On Friday, Karun had just 90 minutes to come to terms with the tight and technical Valencia circuit, used regularly as a Formula 1 test venue. At the end of the session the 20 year old was an encouraging 13th fastest. “I’ve said all along that this is mainly a testing exercise for next year and a chance to learn as much as possible from the team and Narain. In the first session I was 3 seconds off Narain and in the 2nd it was down to 1.8 so we are getting closer. The circuit is quite low grip so the car feels very different to when I did the test in Barcelona. I’m learning a lot about the setup of the car but at the moment I think there’s more to be found in my driving.”
In the Saturday qualifying sessions Karun made more progress and qualified 12th and 10th for the two races and the team was very happy with their new charge’s work. The Team Manager Francesco Ravier said “Karun did a very good job especially in the 2nd one. In the first session we told him to just learn about using the new tyres and in the second one he should’ve been 8th but at the chicane he missed the gearshift and lost some time. Still, for a rookie both to the series and the circuit it’s good.”
In Race 1, Karun made a good start and was up into the points in 10th place for the opening 6 laps of the race. At the end of lap 6, the car jumped into neutral gear momentarily and that allowed the Frenchman Gommendy and World Series Champion Heikki Kovaleinen to go past. Two laps later Karun closed on the Gabord racing driver Yoshimoto and was much faster than him through the chicane getting right under his rear wing when the Japanese driver braked earlier than expected taking both of them out of the race.
In Race 2, Karun held position off the line and was part of a 4 car fight between Juan Cruz Alvarez, former F1 driver Enrique Bernoldi, Adrian Valles and himself. Bernoldi and Valles pitted on lap 5 leaving Karun to try and make up some time before his own stop on the next lap. The Indian pushed hard and came in for his career first pit-stop on lap 6 but unfortunately as he tried to pull out the engine died and he had to be wheeled into the garage for 2 laps. When he rejoined Karun was 2 laps down but the team felt it was important for him to do the race distance and gain vital race experience. Interestingly he rejoined the track between race leader Tiago Monteiro and team-mate Narain Karthikeyan. Chandhok then continued to run impressively close to the pace set by the leaders – his fastest lap of the race just 2 tenths slower than race winner Monteiro.
Karun was happy with his weekend’s work, despite the non scores “The whole weekend was a good experience. Every time I got in the car I got closer to Narain. In the first practice I was 3 seconds off and in the 2nd race I was only 4 tenths off so for sure we made progress. I think we could’ve scored points today, but it is what it is. At the end of the 2nd race it was fun to run with Tiago and Narain and also it was good that I was running at a similar pace. Overall it’s been a positive start and for sure when we go to Jerez we can to aim for some points.”
JK Tyre head of Motorsport Sanjay Sharma said “Karun did what we wanted him to this weekend which was to establish credibility in the series. He was in the top ten and in the 2nd race showed that his pace has improved a lot through the weekend. I said to him that he needs to be patient and use as an investment for the future in terms of experience. I am very happy obviously with Narain’s weekend as well and overall our boys have made us proud today.”
The next and final two rounds of the World Series are at Jerez in 3 weeks time
