The Hindu : Sport : 'I will do my best to finish the race'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 22, 2005

Sport

Sport

'I will do my best to finish the race'

London: After the mechanical failure at Silverstone where he was the only driver to retire, Jordan rookie Narain Karthikeyan said finishing the race would be his primary goal in the German GP at Hockenheim this weekend.

"In Hockenheim, I will do my best to finish the race as I encountered some technical problems at the last two Grands Prix. I am really motivated to do well there," said the Indian who finds the going increasingly tough after his impressive shows in the initial races.

Narain, however, sounded optimistic after the practice sessions. "The two-day test went very well at Paul Ricard last week.

We focused especially on working on different types of Bridgestone tyre and finding a good set-up for the forthcoming races in Germany and Hungary," he said.

"Once again this season, Hockenheim is a circuit I have never driven on, as will be the case in Budapest next week. Therefore, I will have to spend the first sessions learning the layout, but I am up for the challenge," he added.

All set

His teammate Tiago Monteiro too looked set for the race. "We had two productive days last week at Paul Ricard. We went through different ranges of Bridgestone tyres and found some good options for upcoming events.

Overall, we are pretty satisfied with our results. We have also tried some different interesting set-ups and I am looking forward to put that on track soon. "

Jordan GP has been finalising preparations for the 2005 German and Hungarian Grands Prix, the third consecutive double-header of the season, with a last two-day test session at the Circuit Paul Ricard on July 14 and 15, before F1's summer testing ban.

The drivers are looking forward to driving on the Hockenheimring, a circuit which was until 2002 one of the fastest on the F1 calendar with incredibly long straights and speeds well over 360kmph.

Hockenheim is also renowned for being a very hot race and this could make it a tough situation for the Bridgestone tyres and the drivers.

Both Monteiro and Narain carried out two days of testing the current EJ15 at the Circuit Paul Ricard in ideal weather conditions, contributing to the team's preparations for the German and Hungarian Grands Prix.

They were joined by outgoing test driver, Robert Doornbos, who shared the driving duties on both days.

Intensive work

The drivers' schedule consisted of intensive work on Bridgestone's tyre test programme, general car set-ups and potential modifications for forthcoming races.

They have also tested some development parts for the B-car and fundamental studies for the 2006 car.

Narain completed the greatest number of laps on the Thursday with 101 laps. Between them, the drivers clocked up a total testing mileage of over 1100km and tried different track configurations, a characteristic of the Paul Ricard Circuit.

Dominic Harlow, Chief Race and Test Engineer said, "The test was very useful. We completed over 1,100km in two days. The driving was shared among all three drivers with Narain and Tiago covering the majority of the work mainly for the race tyre programme on the first and second days respectively. We varied the circuit layout to gather as much different data as possible and more accurately simulate some aspects of the forthcoming events."

Kiesa the third driver

Nicolas Kiesa will be the new test driver for Team Jordan in Friday's free practice sessions ahead of the German GP.

"I'm pleased to give Nicolas Kiesa this well-deserved opportunity. He has proven himself to be a talented and consistent driver in the junior categories, as well as at the F1 level," Jordan's Managing Director Colin Kolles said. — Agencies

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