The Hindu : Sport / Racing : Motor : Karun Chandhok finishes 13th

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Tuesday, Feb 19, 2008
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Sport - Racing : Motor

Karun Chandhok finishes 13th

CHENNAI: Driving for iSport International, India’s Karun Chandhok was unable to repeat his podium-scoring form in the second round of the GP2 Asia series at Sentul, Indonesia held last weekend, and ended up 13th. The track conditions at Sentul created some of the most difficult conditions in GP2 history due to a mixture of the track surface breaking up and the heavy showers the region is noted for.

A slow pit stop dropped Karun to 17th, but at the restart he was able to quickly work his way back to the front. “I made five places in two laps,” said Karun. “They (two cars in Turn 3) braked ridiculously early, and it caught me out. I had a choice of picking one of the three cars (the other was Adrian Valles) to hit or spinning to avoid them. As soon as you get off-line and lock-up here, you spin away. I got stuck in the gravel, and that was it,” Karun added. His exit meant he would start the sprint race near the back of the grid in the 18th position, but he recovered to finish 13th.

Fantastic feeling

Armaan Ebrahim (DPR), who finished ninth in the second race — four places above Karun said, “After a horrifying Saturday to finish in the top 10 in only my second race is a fantastic feeling.

“The team did a fantastic job overnight in making sure they got rid of the heating problems and I would like to thank all of them for their unstinted support.”

David Price, Team Principal, DPR said, “It was a really good drive from young Armaan, who had a testing time in qualifying and the first race with overheating problems.

“He put his head down and drove a really good race in very trying conditions. We are all very confident that he will keep getting better and better as he spends more time in the car. To have an 18-year-old finishing in the top 10 in only his second race is exemplary.” — Principal Correspondent

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