NEWS
OTHER SPORTS
DIARY
PEOPLE
MATCH REPORTS
SLIDE SHOW
ARCHIVES

Karthikeyan disappoints

Narain Karthikeyan led the field in the first test session at the Spa Francorchamps circuit for last Sunday's 14th round of the British Formula 3 Championship, recording the fastest time with ease.

However, this was going to be the highlight of the weekend for India's premier driver, as subsequent sessions and qualifying saw him lose his grip on the front row of the grid.

Narain, who had been in India the week before on a promotional tour for his sponsors, Kingfisher, Mobil 1, TATA Group and JK Tyres, had missed a vital test day back in England and despite the fact that he amazed the establishment last year with a podium finish on his first ever visit to this magnificent circuit set in the Ardennes forest region of Belgium, the missed test session had given his main rivals an edge.

In the second one-hour test, Narain slipped to fourth fastest and his Carlin Motorsport crew set about making set-up changes to try and improve the car and put their young charger back on the pace for the first of two qualifying session the next day. Unfortunately, whilst the weather held out at this notoriously 'wet' track, Narain was only able to record the 13th fastest time.

Now the team prayed that the rain which threatened to soak the circuit in the afternoon would not arrive as this would ruin any chance of improving Narain's grid position. In the end, it made little difference for although the track was now dry, the delicate balance of Narain's Dallara F3 was just not right to get in the one perfect lap required to set a time and he sank to a lowly 17th on the grid - the worst qualifying position of his career.

It was clearly going to be impossible to get up with the leaders in the race and Narain's first obstacle was to get past his English teammate, Michael Bentwood, who had qualified just ahead in 16th position. He managed this within a few laps and then picked up his pace to chase the pack. Jenson Button with the Renault engined car had pole alongside Stewart Racing's Luciano Burti but it was clear from the start that this was not to be a good race for Button. Burti led with ease followed closely by his main rival in the championship, Mark Hynes and the pair pulled away from the pack to finish 1st and 2nd.

Karthikeyan, who had avoided a dreadful start line accident which resulted in an unconscious Tor Sriachavanon from Thailand paying a visit to the local hospital, brought his car home in 12th place overall.

Steve Hollman, commercial director for Carlin Motorsport said: "This was a disappointing result and one that Narain will simply put behind him. He has a long career ahead of him and the comfort of knowing that last year he was able to finish third at his first visit to this circuit. Twelve years ago, I was at Spa running Johnny Herbert who was in the lead for the Championship at the time and he crashed badly on the first lap of the race, completely destroying his car. Today, Johnny won his third Formula One race for Stewart Ford, just down the road at the Nürburgring in Germany. I don't suppose he gave much thought today about his results here or the other disappointments in his career. "