The Hindu : Sport / Racing : Motor : Bad day for Indians

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Saturday, Jan 26, 2008
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Sport - Racing : Motor

Bad day for Indians

R. Narayanan

DUBAI: JK Tyre’s Karun Chandhok and Armaan Ebrahim, driving for iSport International and David Price Racing respectively, had a poor start to their GP2 Asia series campaign at the Dubai Autodrome here on Friday.

While Karun finished eighth, Armaan was 22nd in a field of 26 drivers.

Frenchman Romain Grosjean of ART Grand Prix led from start to finish and took the chequered flag ahead of Karun’s teammate, Bruno Senna, nephew of the late Ayrton Senna.

Andy Soucek of David Price Racing was the other driver to finish on the podium.

With five laps to go, Bruno was lying in the third spot behind Soucek. However, the Brazilian showed why his late uncle rated him highly when he outmanoeuvred the Spaniard and raced ahead.

Karun spins

Coming out of the pit stop in the 12th lap, Karun, who started fourth on the grid, spun while trying to overtake Armaan. His car went into a spin again in the 35th lap. However, Karun kept his cool on both the occasions to finish among the top eight.

He will be in pole position for the second round to be held on Saturday.

“It was a frustrating race,” said Karun, who was not in the best of health for Friday’s packed schedule that included both the qualifying session and the first round. He will be hoping to cash in on his pole position in the next round.

For the 18-year-old Armaan, it was easily the longest race (42 laps) of his career. Starting from the 24th position on the grid, Armaan made steady progress and was even lying in the ninth spot after the ninth lap.

However, he could not sustain the momentum and had to settle for the 22nd spot.

Provisional results (top three and Indians): 1. Romain Grosjean (ART Grand Prix) 59:25.309s; 2. Bruno Senna (iSport International) +12.358s; 3. Andy Soucek (David Price Racing) +17.347s; 8. Karun Chandhok (iSport) +36.568s; 22. Armaan Ebrahim (David Price Racing) +2 laps.

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