[1]The European Grand Prix scheduled for this weekend has piqued the interest of Indian fans as Narain Karthikeyan and Karun Chandhok will face-off once again this season during the Friday’s free-practice session at the Valencia street circuit.
The last time when the two Indians featured in session was during the FP1 in Turkey where, Hispania’s Narain got the better of Karun, who was behind the wheel of Team Lotus. It will be Narain’s first race at Valencia.
“I have never raced in Valencia before so I don’t really know what to expect. But you always need to concentrate a lot in street circuits because the smallest mistake is enough to put you in the wall. It’s not a traditional street circuit as the roads are quite wide and the average speeds are not as slow as they are in Monaco,” Narain said.
Hispania had an eventful weekend at Canada earlier this month with both their cars crossing the finish-line in a chaotic rain-marred race.
“Our updates worked really well in Canada. Now, we need to capitalise on that and keep the momentum going as the season progresses. We have made a big step forward in terms of performance and lap times and are now much closer to our nearest rivals”.
On the other hand, Karun is looking forward to get more miles under his belt. “I have not had much running in the car. My aim is to add as much value as I can to the team. The Valencia is not a traditional street circuit as it is very wide with quite a few run-off areas unlike Monaco or Montréal.
There are long straights and low speed corners where you have to jump the kerbs to be quick. It is great to see how the team has improved vastly since the start of the season so am confident of a good session,” added Karun, whose stint with Lotus began on a disappointing note with a first-lap crash during the season-opening Australian GP.
Links:
[1] http://archive.asianage.com/nk-kc1cjpgcropdisplayjpg-019