Narain wins at Nurburgring
The Indian national anthem reverberated at the famous Nurburgring circuit in Germany as Narain Karthikeyan stood proudly on the podium. Saturday’s victory was Karthikeyan’s third as he clinched Round Six of the 2013 Auto GP World Series, but it was the first time he celebrated it on the podium. The previous two wins were achieved after original winners were penalised for infringements.
“It feels great to win at Nurburgring. It is a historic venue and it was amazing to hear the national anthem playing in front of a packed grandstand,” said an elated Karthikeyan, who began on pole.
“We knew we had the pace to maintain the lead and I managed to get off the line well so it was all about controlling the pace, even though Giovesi came quite close at times,” added Karthikeyan, who represents Super Nova.
After leading from the start and opening up a nearly two second gap, Narain pitted on lap 18 for the mandatory tyre change and the Super Nova crew executed a near-perfect pit-stop to ensure that he maintained his advantage.
“I was praying for decent stop as I haven’t had the best of luck in the pits this year, but the guys really nailed it this time,” he said.
The victory along with one point for Saturday’s pole position took Karthikeyan’s points tally to 122 points in the championship, 17 points behind third-placed Vittorio Ghirelli.
“We are closing the gap to the leaders but we need some solid points on Sunday as well to make further progress.
“Starting eighth on Sunday’s reverse grid, it won’t be easy but I will try to keep my nose clean and finish as far up ahead as possible. A wet weather is predicted so anything can happen,” said Karthikeyan.
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