The Hindu : Sport / Racing : Motor : A1 Team India gearing up for qualifying season

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Saturday, Apr 12, 2008
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A1 Team India gearing up for qualifying season

Shanghai: A1 Team India will have to iron out some inconsistencies in its car before the qualifying session on Saturday after it struggled to find the perfect set-up in the practice sessions at the Shanghai International Circuit here on Friday.

In the free practice session, Team India’s Narain Karthikeyan finished 17th, just behind Italy and ahead of Australia, in the run up to the A1 weekend action on one of the most impressive tracks in the world.

The Indian team had spent considerable time on Thursday evening rebuilding its car with a new engine.

Parthiv Sureshwaren went out first in the rookie’s practice session in the morning.

After the practice session on Friday, Sureshwaren, who with a lap time of 1:45.674 seconds finished 16th, said the team’s performance was satisfactory despite the slippery nature of the track.

“We had to pull out of the first session early as the team worked on the gear ratio synchronisation issue I faced when I first went out. They worked it out pretty soon and I went out for the second session. I basically bedded in the brake pads to ready the car for the next session.

“I did get a few laps to push the car. The track is quite slippery and it is my first time here, but we got around it without too much of a problem,” he said.

Team India’s No. 1 driver Narain Karthikeyan went out for the one hour official practice session in the afternoon. Although he had expected to do much better, the team struggled a little bit to find the ‘sweet spot’ set-up for the car.

Best lap time

Karthikeyan’s best lap time, however, showed he was just 1.361 seconds off the pace set by Filipe Albuquerque of Team Portugal, which led the session with a record lap time of 1:35.223 seconds.

Meanwhile, the Indian team had an interesting guest with them as it invited an upcoming Indian driver for the race weekend.

Thirteen-year-old Rossano (Rossy) Bhandal had written to Team India earlier this season with his interest in learning motorsport. Rossy is currently karting in England and has an aim to become ‘India’s best driver.’ — PTI

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