Japanese Grand Prix — race
October 9, 2005

The weather changed radically overnight from heavy rain to bright sunshine for the penultimate round of the 2005 FIA Formula One Championship at Suzuka. Starting 11th and 20th on the grid, Narain Karthikeyan and Tiago Monteiro made strong starts, avoided incidents at the first corners, gained some positions and settled into a good race rhythm. With less than 10 laps to go, Karthikeyan had to do an unscheduled stop to change his right front tyre due to a flat spot. However, the drivers took the chequered flag in 14th and 16th places. The team is really satisfied to bring both cars to the chequered flag, a result providing them with another solid, two-car finish, the 12th this season.

Team quotes on the Japanese Grand Prix

Tiago Monteiro (EJ15B/02) — 14th
“I think I had a good race on a track I did not really know in the dry. I was wondering how it was going to be, but I managed to get quickly behind my direct competitors at the beginning and I pushed really hard all the way. We were on a great optimum fuel strategy, I needed to be really close to them and push as much as possible when they came to pit. I didn’t make any mistakes and I am very happy to finish 14th here on a difficult track.”

Narain Karthikeyan (EJ15B/01) — 16th
“I made a good start but I got it a little bit wrong in the first corner because it was the first ever lap for me on these race tyres due to my problems on Friday afternoon and the grip level was not perfect. After the safety car went in I was able to hang on behind Massa until my first stop. After the stop the front tyres were graining a lot and after the second pit stop, I have really struggled with the car balance, as it was understeering a lot. Near the end of the race, I had to change my right front tyre, which unfortunately cost me some time. In general, it was an average race.”

Sporting director: Adrian Burgess
“We brought both cars to the finish again which is good. Narain had an imbalance with the car, which damaged his front tyres, and eventually he locked up once too often and flat spotted one. We decided to change it for precautionary reasons, as it could have become too dangerous for him to carry on. Tiago had a good race again from the back and finished 14th. Now we are heading to the final race in China next week and try to finish with a good result.”