Karun Chandhok

Amid growing speculation that Karun Chandhok will be on the F1 grid this year, Campos Meta Team principal Dr. Colin Kolles confirmed that the team were in talks with the Indian driver and were close to finalizing a deal. The newcomers Campos Meta had been recently taken over by Jose Ramon Carabante to confirm their participation in the 2010 championship. Kolles has been given the ardous task of getting the team fully operational to makes its debut in Bahrain in less than a fortnight.

Team principal Dr. Colin Kolles commented, “We have been very impressed with Karun’s performance in GP2 and are close to finalizing a deal with him. India is a great country and it would be great for the sport to have an Indian driver on the grid. However we will be in a better position to comment on this over the next few days. My aim now is to make sure that we are there on the grid in Bahrain which will be a huge achievement in itself. We are moving in the right direction and will do everything in our power to make sure we are running in Bahrain, with Karun in the car.”

While Karun is away training hard in Italy, his father and manager Vicky Chandhok confirmed the same, commenting “We are in talks with Colin and hope to confirm a deal very soon. We have known Colin for a number of years and we are absolutely amazed by his determination and passion to get the car on the grid in Bahrain. We have utmost faith in him and are hopeful to confirm things in the next few days.”

Chandhok has been a regular front-runner in the GP2 Series in the recent past with podiums and wins at legendary circuits like Spa, Monaco and Silverstone. The GP2 series has been the stepping stone to Formula One for many leading drivers including Lewis Hamilton, Timo Glock and Nico Rosberg. Prior to the GP2 series, Chandhok was the Asian Formula Renault V6 Champion in 2006, and was a regular front runner in British Formula 3 with T-Sport. He was also the youngest ever Asian Formula Champion in 2001 and youngest Indian National Racing Champion in 2000.

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Karun Chandhok is in his third season of GP2.

Bernie Ecclestone has told the Indian press that he wanted Karun Chandhok to take Giancarlo Fisichella’s place at Force India instead of Vitantonio Liuzzi.

Chandhok is the most likely driver to succeed Narain Karthikeyan as India’s next F1 driver. But is he ready for a step up to the top level?
Chandhok is in this third season of GP2 and is racing for the Ocean Technology team run by Karthikeyan’s former Jordan team mate Tiago Monteiro.

It’s been a year of mixed results for him so far. There have been points finishes and a podium at Silverstone. Chandhok should have won the sprint race at Monte-Carlo, but his car broke down while he was leading.

Karun Chandhok finished a creditable 10th position at the GP2 race at the Hungarian Grand Prix for Ocean Racing Technology.
Chandhok fought his way from 17th on the grid on a circuit where overtaking is very tough for most drivers. Chandhok had earlier retired from the feature race with tyre problems.
The Indian GP2 ace was suffering from lack of grip the whole weekend but took solace from the fact that he was able to get past many cars in both races.
Chandhok had a disappointing start to the weekend by qualifying 20th for the feature race struggling with a lack of front end grip.
However, he worked his way up in the race to 13th overtaking cars with some daring moves. As he was looking to make up more places his rear tyres started to give way and he was forced to retire from the race.
”It has been a really frustrating weekend as I struggled to find grip. It’s extra frustrating because I normally like this circuit and was strong here last year when I qualified fifth and finished fourth,” Chandhok said.
”Practice and qualifying was a real struggle and when you are starting at the back at Budapest you know that you are going to get stuck behind slower cars the whole race as overtaking is really tough here.
”Moving up to 13th place was really encouraging as I made some overtaking moves I don’t think I could have ever thought was possible. By pushing hard early on to make those places my rear tyres were totally destroyed and it also ultimately meant the end of my race,” Karun added.

Bangalore, June 21, 2009: Indian racing ace Karun Chandhok is back home for the first time in six months after a busy period on track. The Chennai born driver who now lives in the UK is on a whirlwind tour of the country meeting sponsors, media and fans after getting his first podium of the year at Silverstone last time out.

Looking back on the season thus far, Karun said “It’s been a very busy season especially since I am with a new team, Ocean Racing Technology this year. I have been more involved in moulding the way the team functions and the technical setups of the car than before and it is a challenge that I am relishing. To be very honest, at the first race in Barcelona we were not really competitive as a team and I was actually quite worried about the rest of the season.

Silverstone, 18 June 2009 - Since the formation of FOTA last September the teams have worked together and sought to engage the FIA and commercial rights holder, to develop and improve the sport. 

Unprecedented worldwide financial turmoil has inevitably placed great challenges before the F1 community.  FOTA is proud that it has achieved the most substantial measures to reduce costs in the history of our sport.   

In particular the manufacturer teams have provided assistance to the independent teams, a number of which would probably not be in the sport today without the FOTA initiatives.  The FOTA teams have further agreed upon a substantial voluntary cost reduction that provides a sustainable model for the future. 

Following these efforts all the teams have confirmed to the FIA and the commercial rights holder that they are willing to commit until the end of 2012.   

The FIA and the commercial rights holder have campaigned to divide FOTA.  

The wishes of the majority of the teams are ignored. Furthermore, tens of millions of dollars have been withheld from many teams by the commercial rights holder, going back as far as 2006. Despite this and the uncompromising environment, FOTA has genuinely sought compromise. 

It has become clear however, that the teams cannot continue to compromise on the fundamental values of the sport and have declined to alter their original conditional entries to the 2010 World Championship. 

These teams therefore have no alternative other than to commence the preparation for a new Championship which reflects the values of its participants and partners.  This series will have transparent governance, one set of regulations, encourage more entrants and listen to the wishes of the fans, including offering lower prices for spectators worldwide,   partners and other important stakeholders.   

The major drivers, stars, brands, sponsors, promoters and companies historically associated with the highest level of motorsport will all feature in this new series. 

Note to Eds: Statement issued by FOTA on behalf of BMW-Sauber, BrawnGP, Scuderia Ferrari, McLaren-Mercedes, Red Bull Racing, Renault, Scuderia Toro Rosso, Toyota.

GP2 Series organisers have unveiled the full entry list heading into this season’s opening rounds in Barcelona at the weekend. Twelve teams and twenty-six drivers will be contesting the title over the course of the next four months, with the conclusion of the championship in Portugal for the first time on 20 September.
Barwa Campos Team
1. Vitaly Petrov - Russia
2. Romain Grosjean - France
iSport International
3. Giedo van der Garde - Netherlands
4. Diego Nunes - Brazil
Piquet GP
5. Roldan Rodriguez - Spain
6. Alberto Valerio - Brazil
Fat Burner Racing Engineering
7. Lucas di Grassi - Brazil
8. Dani Clos - Spain
ART Grand Prix
9. Pastor Maldonado - Venezuela
10. Nico Hülkenberg - Germany
Telmex Arden International
11. Sergio Perez - Mexico
12. Edoardo Mortara - Italy
Super Nova Racing
14 Luca Filippi - Italy
15. Javier Villa - Spain
DAMS
16. Jérôme d’Ambrosio - Belgium
17. Kamui Kobayashi - Japan
Trident Racing
18. Ricardo Teixeira - Portugal
19. Davide Rigon - Italy
FMSI
20. Andrea Zuber - United Arab Emirates
21.Luiz Razia - Brazil
Durango
22. Davide Valsecchi - Italy
23. Nelson Panciatici - France
Ocean Racing Technology
24. Karun Chandhok - India
25. Alvaro Parente - Portugal
DPR
26. Michael Herck - Romania
27. Giacomo Ricci - Italy

Having already signed up to contest the main GP2 Series season with Tiago Monteiro’s Ocean Racing Technology Team, Karun Chandhok will get the chance of an early debut with his new outfit when he takes part in the Asia Series finale in Bahrain.
The event will mark the first race outing of the year for the Indian driver, with the deal to race in Bahrain having come about by a desire from both parties to get extra seat time ahead of the start of the regular season.
“It’s been nearly seven months since the last GP2 race of 2008 so I’m really looking forward to this weekend,” Chandhok said. “While the GP2 European series is the most important programme, Tiago and I both felt it would be useful to do a weekend of the Asian series together as a pre-cursor to the main series.
“ORT are a new team and it will be the first time I’ll be working with the engineers and mechanics on a race weekend so it will be a good test for us to understand each other’s working practices.” Chandhok ran strongly in Bahrain last season with iSport but came away from the weekend without any points, something he will be keen to avoid this time around. “I qualified on the front row and was leading both races last year, but came away with no points!” he said. “We were really unlucky not to win after a safety car period in race one cost me the lead and then Diego Nunes took me out of the lead in race two. I like the Bahrain International Circuit and have generally been strong there in the past so it’ll be interesting to go back there this time with ORT. Hopefully we can have a bit more luck!”

The Ocean Racing Technology team was satisfied with its first GP2 Asia points in Malaysia at the weekend. Despite Sunday’s wet sprint race throwing variables into the mix, Yelmur Buurman was delighted to finish fifth in Saturday’s longer feature event, picking up four important points for the team in the process.
Having started eleventh on the grid, an F1 Nico Rosberg-like start saw Buurman already up to sixth position before the end of the first lap. “We knew points were in our grasp, and we could have scored on several other occasions this season,” the 22-year-old said afterwards. “It is a done deal now, and it’s proof that the team’s hard work bears fruit. The start was crucial in the final result.”
Team owner Tiago Monteiro was unable to travel to Asia as he was occupied with World Touring Car Commitments in France, although this didn’t stop him expressing his happiness over the encouraging result. “It’s like I was there,” he said. “I fully trust José Guedes and all the members of the team, and we keep in touch all the time. My driving career is still a priority, and I have to make some sacrifices, but I was very happy at the end of the race because it proves that we’re on the right track. We want more, we want to bring it even further and we have what it takes to make it happen,” the Portuguese added.

Vitaly Petrov has taken victory for Campos in the second of this weekend’s races, by crossing the line comfortably ahead of Pastor Maldonado and Davide Valsecchi, with yesterday’s winner Diego Nunes coming up to fourth from eighth at the start.

A heavy Malaysian racestorm saw the start of the race delayed by ten minutes, which was followed by a second delay as the torrential conditions failed to abate. The safety car was summoned to examine the state of the circuit as race directors called a third ten 10-minute call, meaning the start of the race finally coming, under safety car conditions, half an hour later than scheduled.

With the 22-lap face cut short to 20, it started without Yamamoto and Nai Chia Chen who stalled on the starting grid. As the safety car came in, Valsecchi pulled away for Durango as Maldonado avoided contact between the pair while simutaneously holding off Petrov in third position. Behind, James Jakes was proving just how hard conditions were by spinning the Super Nova with practically nil visibility.

Valsecchi continued to do a brilliant job of holding off Maldonado as the pair went side-by-side around Turn 1 in the slippery conditions, with the Venezuelan finally passing for the lead at Turn 4 just moments later.

With plenty of dicing taking place in the midfield, it was Maldonado’s turn to relinquish the lead when an aggressive but fair pass by Petrov saw the Russian move into the lead at Turn 15 on the tenth lap. Vitaly immediately pulled away although a fastest lap of more than two minutes was further proof, which the drivers didn’t need, of how treacherous conditions were.

Jérôme d’Ambrosio’s rotton weekend came to a depressing conclusion when the DAMS was black flagged and disqualified from the race after a pass on Bonanomi under a yellow flag - the Belgian overshot Turn 9, almost colliding with a group of marshalls attending to Micheal Herck’s stranded DPR car. What had promised to be a great weekend for d’Ambrosio, with pole on Saturday followed by a car failure, turned into a disaster of which he will want to make up for in Bahrain.

Petrov’s victory keeps his title hopes alive, particularly as Kobayashi’s chances took a small knock by being passed on the finish line by Sergio Perez; the title will be decided in the Middle East in two weeks with Kobayashi, Valsecci, Petrov and Rodriguez all still with a chance.

Clasification:

1. Kamui Kobayashi (DAMS) 47 puntos
2. Davide Valsecchi (Durango) 34
3. Vitali Petrov (Barwa) 28
4. Roldán Rodríguez (Piquet) 27
9. Javi Villa (Super Nova) 12

The GP2 Series teams have concluded their first testing session at Paul Ricard this week, with the best time of the day going to new Super Nova driver Javier Villa. Trying on the brand new engine provided by Renault for the 2009 season – it was the very debut for the new power plant in the off-season testing – the Spaniard set the fastest time of 1:11.930. Super Nova and DAMS (Kamui Kobayashi) were the only 2 teams at Paul Ricard to put both their cars into the Top 10 in the Wednesday time charts. On the other hand, yesterday’s back-runners were Trident Racing, Ocean Technology of Karun Chandhok and David Price Racing.

1. Javier Villa (Super Nova) 1:11.930
2. Lucas di Grassi (Racing Engineering) 1:12.079
3. Kamui Kobayashi (DAMS) 1:12.140
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.
18. Giedo van der Garde (iSport) 1:13.221
19. Karun Chandhok (Ocean) 1:13.356
20 Davide Rigon (Trident) 1:13.362
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.
25. Giacomo Ricci (DPR) 1:14.961
26. Alvaro Parente (Ocean)