Taupo, Jan 23: Ace driver Narain Karthikeyan clocked 1.16.836 seconds to see a sponsor-less Team India finish at 11th position in free practice session ahead of this weekend`s A1 Grand Prix at the Taupo Motorsport Park, on Friday.
Earlier, driving the Ferrari powered car, Parthiva Sureshwaren, a last minute replacement for Armaan Ebrahim who opted out after failing to pay the USD 7,500 insurance cover, finished ninth and 13th in the rookie sessions.
Meanwhile, reigning champions A1 Team Switzerland set the early pace with Alexandre Imperatori starting the day as the quickest rookie while main driver Neel Jani put his mystery illness behind and ended the day as overall quickest with a timing of 1:15.971.
With Spice Energy withdrawing from their sponsorship deal with the team, both the Indian drivers Karthikeyan and Sureshwaren had to shell out money from their own pocket to participate in the race.
Karthikeyan, lone Indian to drive in the Formula One, completed 29 laps with his best timing coming on the 14th lap in the hot, dusty conditions.
“I am happy with our progress in the practice session today. We tried several different options of the setup, and I`m quite positive that we have found some options which will allow us to go quicker over the course on the weekend.”
“Unlike us, several of the drivers put in their fastest laps towards the end of the session on new sets of tyres, so I`m confident of our pace,” Karthikeyan said after the day`s practice session.
“It`s great to be back behind the wheel after almost nine months. The new car is a giant step forward from the old car, it is super-quick and seems to respond very well to even the smallest change in setup,” Sureshwaren said.
Bureau Report
