GreenBkk.com Narain Karthikeyan | Narain ready to dazzle at the Indian GP

Narain ready to dazzle at the Indian GP

Tuesday 04, October 2011

For Indian driver Narain Karthikeyan, the Indian GP is an opportunity of a lifetime. He has always harboured the dream to impress his home crowd on the Formula One grand stage. On Oct 30th, Karthikeyan will race in his Hispania Racing car in the Indian GP. HRT have had a difficult season this year as they have had trouble even qualifying for the races. Completing the race was a distant thought. The team has definitely come a long way since their first race at the Malaysian GP, where Karthikeyan and teammate Vitantonio Liuzzi were forced to retire due to technical glitches. "As you know, the cars have improved a lot since the first race in Malaysia. Updates were made even last weekend in Singapore. But I would say a realistic goal for us for the Indian GP would be to finish ahead of the three new teams and maybe a little higher," said Karthikeyan to the Times of India. HRT went through some financial difficulties which saw Karthikeyan lose his spot to Daniel Ricciardo. "Ricciardo, of course, is the one for the future, the blue-eyed boy of Red Bull. He is talented and has a bright future, especially with the backing of Red Bull. He will go a long way in F1," he said. HRT, in an attempt to get Karthikeyan back in to the flow of things, brought him back into the arena at the Singapore GP. But the 34-year-old Indian is confident of putting up a good show despite spending less time on the track. "I was just 0.1 of a second slower than Ricciardo during Friday practice. That is great considering I was away from the cockpit for a while. I will again be doing Friday runs in Japan and Korea before racing in India and I am sure of getting enough track time to be ready for the big show," says Narain. Karthikeyan is positive about about HRT's chances in the much awaited race of the season. While the team wne through tough times at the start of the 2011 calender, HRT did well to recover financially. With new investors on board, HRT seems to be heading in the right direction. "To say that we will score our first points in Greater Noida will not be a realistic statement. The team had new updates in Singapore but its real impact will be felt in Japan next week. I am sure the cars will run much stronger in Japan and thereafter. The team is also focusing on developing a stronger car for next season and that shows it has the right philosophy for Formula One," said Karthikeyan.

Credit: Narain Karthikeyan (www.narainracing.com)