Karun Chandhok

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)

Karun Chandhok has admitted that he was ‘disappointed’ to have been overlooked for a Formula 1 role in 2009, but insists that he remains fully focussed on his ‘dream’ of being on the starting grid for the first-ever Indian Grand Prix in two years’ time. Given his family’s close links with Force India F1 chairman and managing director Vijay Mallya, and two promising seasons in the GP2 Series feeder category, many assumed that Chandhok would be a shoe-in for either a race seat or at the very least a testing position with the Silverstone-based squad this year, but with Mallya electing to retain his 2008 line-up in its entirety, there was no room at the inn for the man from Chennai, Karun.

Racing is now a sensation in India, thanks to Karun Chandhok. In conversation with Sudeshna Guha Roy of Zeenews.com during a Tag Heuer press conference in the capital recently, Karun said that given the kind of performance portrayed by Indian racers all over the world, the nation is ready to host a successful 2011 Formula One race. “We have two drivers who have driven Formula One cars. We have a team in Formula One. We have two racers who have raced in A1GP and GP2 which is highest in the world. I think we have done significantly better than most other countries on the planet. So I guess, we are ready to host the formula one races,” said Karun Chandhok.

Karun Chandhok says a lack of corporate dollars is keeping him from making the final step into formula one.
Despite his countryman Vijay Mallya running the Force India operation, the Indian billionaire for a second consecutive season will field a German and Italian driver combination, even though Chandhok, 25, and Narain Karthikeyan, throng the international racing scene. “Finance is one thing,” said Chandhok, who has previously tested for Red Bull Racing.
“For a formula one drive, you are looking at 10-15 million dollars. That’s a significant amount of money when you convert it into rupees,” he said in Delhi during a sponsor press conference. Chandhok also believes the departure from the scene of the Honda-powered Honda and Super Aguri teams has complicated the task for F1 hopefuls.
“Like I said it is four less seats, which has made it more difficult,” Karun confirmed.

“I’ve known Tiago for a few years now since we briefly raced together in World Series and of course he was Narain’s team-mate at Jordan. I really believe that having an ex-F1 driver running a team is a big plus as he understands what is needed from our perspective,” Karun Chandhok said in a release.

Ocean Racing Technology has secured a top driver contract for the GP2 Main Series with Indian driver, Karun Chandhok joining forces with the Portuguese team, making him the first driver confirmed for the outfit directed by Tiago Monteiro.
At 24, Karun has two complete seasons in the series under his belt as well as two victories and therefore brings great experience with him that will be decisive for the all new team in the GP2 Main Series.
“It is very important for Ocean Racing Technology to guarantee the presence of a talented driver such as Karun Chandhok. He is fast, hard worker and already has some great results on different kinds of tracks”.

Bernie Ecclestone has rejected team owner Vijay Mallya’s claim that an Indian driver is not yet ready for formula one.

Indian billionaire Mallya, who owns and runs Force India, wants a countryman at the wheel of his car but for the moment has ruled out both Narain Karthikeyan and Karun Chandhok.

He said that Karthikeyan, who raced with the Silverstone based team (then Jordan) in 2005, “doesn’t fit” his criteria, while Chandhok did not sufficiently impress this year in GP2.

But F1 chief executive Ecclestone, who plans to add India to the grand prix calendar in 2011, disagrees.

“The time is getting closer for F1 to be in India, which is something I am really enthusiastic about, and hopefully Karun will be part of it,” the 78-year-old told the local Hindustan Times.

“His place is in F1,” Ecclestone added.

Karthikeyan, who as recently as last year was a test driver with Williams, was not mentioned by the British billionaire.