The Hindu : Sport : Narain promises to be competitive

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jul 09, 2005

Sport

Sport

Narain promises to be competitive

Silverstone: At the half-way stage of his first Formula One season, India's Narain Karthikeyan promises to be competitive and seek more points in the British Grand Prix here on Sunday.

``We are expecting to be competitive at Silverstone having tested there a few weeks ago and got some good indications of which tyres to choose,'' Karthikeyan said going into the 11th GP, which also means home for his team.

The 28-year-old Jordan driver, who tested here a few weeks ago, said controlled speed would be the key on the unpredictable track here and right choice of tyres would be important.

``Silverstone is a very different track from the others we race on. It is quite high-speed, but most of that speed is in corners rather than on straights. It is kind of a `lottery' with both high and very low speed sections.

Stability of tyres

``A good lap time, however, comes from the high speed part of the track and the stability of the tyres at Silverstone will be important for car handling. The track surface is quite abrasive which means we may see high tyre,'' said the Indian, who made history by finishing fourth in the U.S. Grand Prix.

Giving the details of the track familiar to him, Karthikeyan said setting up of the car and its aerodynamics would be the trickiest part for a team and a driver.

``Of course at Silverstone, the car balance and stability are mainly dictated by the aerodynamics of the car. The first corner, Copse, is very quick and leads to the sweeps of Maggots and Becketts where a car must have high-speed stability and the ability to change direction cleanly and quickly,'' Karthikeyan said.

``This part of the track highlights any deficiency in the chassis set-up. This part of setting up the car is the trickiest for a team and a driver,'' said the Indian, who was adjudged the best rookie at the Nevers Magny course in his last race.

The venue has many traditions, from the delights of the local traffic to the welcoming British summer weather which so often puts a dampener on proceedings, and, the Indian said, weather was often unpredictable on this track.

``The weather is often unpredictable and can be a bit of a lottery and we could have anything from 35 degrees on track, if sunny, to cool and wet weather: you just don't know what to expect.''

New Jordan model

About the new Jordan model he said it would touch the tracks in the races after this Sunday.

``In preparation for the French and British Grand Prix, we had a two-day test at Barcelona on June 23 and 24. The primary objective of the test was to evaluate the new EJ15B spec package, which is a car that we are eagerly waiting to be using in after the British Grand Prix from now.''

``I know the track well and I hope I can show the full potential of the car here. Obviously with the Team, we need to be lucky at the present time to score points with this car.''

Out of the 10 Grand Prix, Karthikeyan has raced so far, the Indian started and finished in a far better position on six occasions (Malaysia, San Marino, Spain, Europe, USA, France) except for his very first Grand Prix in Australia where he started 12th and finished in 15th position.

At the United States Grand Prix he completed the 73-lap race, gaining valuable points for his team finishing fourth, the best ever classification for him this year.

A minute's silence

A minute's silence will be held before Sunday's GP in memory of the victims of the explosions in London.

The organisers of Sunday's British Formula One Grand Prix said they were confident the event had adequate security measures in place following Thursday's explosions in London.

The event is sold out with 100,000 people expected at Silverstone on race day.

Silverstone Circuits Limited said there was a "well established set of security measures in place.

"Silverstone is confident that these measures are adequate to ensure the safety of all attending," they said in a statement.

The event was disrupted two years ago when a kilted protestor waving placards ran on to the track on the Hangar straight during the race. — Agencies

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