Check this report from A1GP ... As per report the team were struggling to find a good set-up throughout the weekend ... But still managed to setting the second fastest lap of the race.
Hopefully in next China race (penultimate round of 2006/07), where he competed as an F1 driver, Narain get chance to challenge front runners.
Narain Karthikeyan wrote:“The Feature race start was really bad, the car just bogged down and we seemed to have a long first gear on the car which caught me out a bit. I had a good battle with Junqueira, but when he tried to pass me about seven laps in, we made contact and I went off track and damaged the tyres. That then exaggerated the understeer we had been suffering from and I had to pit for more tyres. Pace wise we weren’t too bad; we set some good sector times and the second fastest lap of the race.
“In New Zealand everything looked good and we thought we would be challenging the front runners, but we seem to have struggled since then. As a team we need to sit down and work out a strategy. I’m here to be a front runner and feel confident in the car; I’m not here to run around at the back. Things have to change quickly."
i am not sure why he hasnt found that pace in Quali !!...
yeah hope for better results in china and Brandshatch, he raced on both these tracks. I hoping for a podium in brands hatch, he had 2 wins there in F3. Thats more his kind of circuit
Now all attention is to the Shanghai International Circuit in China where Narain will return to the same venue of his last F-1 race ... Narain is showing optimistic view about this race considering he is familier with the curcuit, but hoping to find the right set-up early on in this technically demanding circuit.
Narain - "This will be the first time I will be driving in an A1 GP car at a circuit I am already familiar with. This will help us in finding the perfect set-up straightaway. Obviously, there will be significant differences between the A1 GP and F-1 cars, but my experience here should help the team."
"We need to work hard as a team here and ensure we are on the pace from the first practice session and achieve the results that we are capable of."
He seems to be on the pace in the practice sessions uptil now. He was 2nd and 4th in the two rookie practice sessions and 4th in the first main practice session.
I would however be cautious as he has flattered to deceive in the previous races - where too he had done well in the practice sessions only to disappoint in qualifying. Hope this time round its different.
Narain has done well in Quali this time round. He has qualified 5th out of 22, which is the best performance by Team India. He could have been even closer to the top but for the mistake in 2nd session when he went wide and wasted the session and again an oversteer in the 4th session which was the difference betwen him being 2nd/3rd and 5th.
The heartening news to hear was that the commentators were full of praise for the fact that Narain has been able to drive to the absolute limit the whole weekend and extract the best performance from a car which in terms of development is signififacntly behind that of the top runners such as NZ, GBR, Germany and France.
Here's wishing him all the best for the race !!!
Finally, an "on par" qualifying effort from Narain on a track he knows. If he keeps himself out of trouble in the sprint race, he might grab a podium spot in the feature.
In the end very disappointing race for team India ... Must be frustrating experience for Narain.
A1 GP site wrote:The hairpin at turn 12 proved the best place to overtake, often taking advantage of driver errors as they braked to negotiate the tight turn. A1 Team India, who started the race in seventh position was a common victim, losing places to Italy, Indonesia and France. For driver Narain Karthikeyan, the situation was worsened by damage sustained to his side pod in his opening lap collision with South Africa which had exposed his radiator and was no doubt affecting the aerodynamics. It was not until lap 27 that repairs were made during the team’s second pit stop but with only 11 laps to go, India failed to regain position. But their misfortune was not to end there as rear suspension problems on the final lap caused the car to spin off at turn 15 and hit the wall. Karthikeyan was able to get out of the car unassisted and walk away.
well the South african car pretty much ended NK's hopes .....hard luck for narain. He still was able to keep cars behind him, but didnt have enough speed on the long straight....
so two more chances to get on that podium !!
Last edited by kallu on Sun Apr 15, 2007 12:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
So the qualifying and the starting grid for the sprint race
India in 5th. Nk reckons he lost 1 place because France blocked him in the last quali session.
1) Great britain
2) Germany
3) France
4) ITALY
5) India
6) Malaysia
7) Switzerland
8) Netherlands
9) New Zealand
10) South Africa
11) USA
12) Ireland
13) China
14) Canada
15) Portugal
16) Brazil
17) Czech
18) Australia
19) Lebanon
20) Indonesia
21) Mexico
22) Pakistan
He could have been even closer to the top but for the mistake in 2nd session when he went wide and wasted the session and again an oversteer in the 4th session which was the difference betwen him being 2nd/3rd and 5th. 
.....hard luck for narain. He still was able to keep cars behind him, but didnt have enough speed on the long straight....
