Archive for November, 2004
Odd Spot
Narain Finishes Season In Sixth Spot
Narain finishes season in sixth spot
COIMBATORE,
NOV. 8.
India’s top driver Narain Karthikeyan ended a good season with two wins, a second and a third place finish. The TATA RC Motorsport driver from Coimbatore thus finished in the sixth position in one of the world’s top series, according a release here today.
The final leg of the World Series by Nissan — Spanish Grand Prix — saw a fifth position for Narain who staved off a stiff challenge from the experienced French driver Tristan Gommendy. In fact, Gommendy, who was using a special set of brand new tyres, had a huge advantage over Narain. But, the Le Mans 24 Hours veteran still found it hard to get past the Indian.
It was a positive result for Narain despite the fact that this was his maiden visit to the high-speed track, added the release.
Fizzling out
The second race promised a lot after Narain qualified third on the grid. He came up with a fine show after his only chance to feel the track was rained off. Narain was steadily in the third spot and was even closing in on Monteiro before an error made him lose time and spoiled his chances of finishing on the podium.
Kovalainen threw away another win when he was penalised for crossing a line on the exit from the pits, thereby gifting victory to Monteiro. The other contenders who ran into trouble were former F-1 driver Enrique Bernoldi (gear box problems) and Milos Pavlovic, who committed the same offence as Kovalainen.
Before signing off from the successful series, Narain extended a word of thanks to his sponsors — TATA Group, Red Bull, JK Tyre and Speed — who helped him through the year as he continued with his quest to become India’s first Grand Prix driver.
Hindu On Net