Couple of steps
Mid-Day  — November 9, 2004

Both Narain Karthikeyan and Karun Chandhok finished their 2003-04 season on a high, the latter perhaps smiling a lot more than Coimbatore's famous son. For Karthikeyan, it was a flattish season, sprinkled equally with disappointing results and towering highs. This was the season in which he won his first race in the World Series —in MagnyCours. Then he finished one and two in Valencia. 

It was a season in which he finished more often on the podium than before, but it was also a season where he failed to find the consistency that had helped him finish third in the championship just last season. Where he had failed to finish just two races in 2002-03, last season there were six instances when he didn't make it to the flag. "That was a bit disappointing as I lost a lot of points. But at the same time, my average qualifying position for the season was third, which was excellent." 

Chandhok, on the other hand, started the season slowly, almost disastrously one could say, before a timely look-in to the World Series for the last two weekends put him right back in the news. Moving up from the scholarship to the championship class in British F3 was pretty much a non-starter, with his T-Sport team struggling for funds. Out-of-work midway through the season, Chandhok got a lifeline when his main sponsors JK Tyres, along with Tata, got him a drive alongside Karthikeyan for the Tata RC Motorsport team. 

Before the drives, his aim was "to try and finish in the top ten." In Sunday's season-ending races, he finished eighth and fourth. "I'm absolutely over the moon. Two months ago if someone had told me that I'll qualify and finish in the top five in just my second weekend in the World Series, I would've said that they're. dreaming." Now that he knows he belongs, Chandhok will need to find the consistency. "He's definitely got potential," Karthikeyan said. about Chandhok, while the latter just wanted to "thank Narain for suggesting the World Series option to me."