The Hindu : Sport / Racing : Motor : India 18th in practice

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Saturday, Feb 02, 2008
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Sport - Racing : Motor

India 18th in practice

Sydney: An abrasive track made it a bumpy practice session for A1 Team India on Friday as Narain Karthikeyan drove it to an 18th-place finish ahead of the qualifying race.

Team’s rookie driver was unavailable this weekend for personal reasons, forcing Narain to take the Eastern Creek track to test the car set-up before Saturday’s qualifying session.

“It was quite an eye opener for me today. It is a track I have never raced on before. The track surface was particularly bumpy and wore the tyres out very quickly. However, the car is looking good and I am expecting a top 10 qualifying position on Saturday,” said Narain.

Teams with the most circuit knowledge through prior data and rookie session practice recorded their quickest sector times in laps 2 and 3. Team India was placed 18th in the second session with a lap time of 1:20.936 with a top speed of 262.1 kmph.

A car set-up with good traction will be vital for the qualifying to prevent the tyres from getting blistered. A shuffling in the classification order showed the otherwise title leaders Germany and Switzerland placing 14th and 12th respectively. France came out on top in Friday’s practice. — PTI

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