Karthikeyan, Chandhok poised for different league
Telegraph  — November 14, 2004

India’s fastest duo now races on a new track. They are what is being called Team India, a concept probably leased from cricket, but effective everywhere nevertheless. Narain Karthikeyan and Karun Chandhok are charting new routes as part of the Tata-sponsored RS Motorsport team. They are now in the Nissan World Series, a couple of levels down from Formula One, maybe, but a huge jump from Formula III.

Karthikeyan concluded a positive season with two wins, a second place and a third place finish, thus ending the championship in sixth position overall.

Chandhok had a great weekend at the final two races of the Series in Jerez (Spain). The Chennai lad finished eighth in Race 1 and a fine fourth in Race 2 in just his second weekend of racing in the category. He had also creditably qualified eighth and fifth, proving the final results were no fluke.

The big news, of course, are in their tomorrows. The world of motorsport, especially Formula One, is changing fast. Teams are moving into the red, Ford are pulling out, Ferrari are boringly champions again, and manufacturers are challenging the authority of Formula One boss, billionaire Bernie Ecclestone. The Indians are now measuring their steps and moving vertically as well as laterally in careers that have converged, but possibly for a short while, as Team India.

There is also a new opportunity waiting to happen, from next year, in Grand Prix 2, or the official Formula II, as it might be called. These will be run on the mornings of the Sunday F1 races, at the same venue as the official support races. The big push is that each car and driver will be running in front of top F1 bosses.

“Look, my target remains the F1,” said Karthikeyan, speaking to The Telegraph over phone from Chennai, having just landed in India after his European stint. “I am trying to arrange for another trial. What happens next depends on this availability. If no such luck comes my way (probably because of the money angle as well), I will be going for the GP 2. That will keep me in the eyes of those who matter (in F1) anyway.”

Basically the Nissan Series is run on Nissan engines. It is pretty much different from Formula III in many aspects. “Vastly different,” as Karun Chandhok told this correspondent over phone from Mumbai. He too has just landed from Team India’s European trip and will be in Calcutta on Sunday as part of the JK Tyre National Karting Championships’ Calcutta leg at Clown Town.

Nissan cars are all built in Italy, by a company called Dallara, who also build the FIII chassis. Dallara is expected to enter a Formula I team in 2006.

According to Chandhok, these Nissan cars are at least ten seconds faster than the FIII ones. However all cars on the championships are identical. But the 450bhp powerhouse is 210bhp more than FIII, the tyres are a lot softer, aerodynamics is way better and produces 1200kg of down-force. That jerks up cornering speeds.

Karthikeyan has been around on the Nissan circuit and has had time to get used to it a bit. For Chandhok, though, coming off the FIII circuit, he had “two 45-minute practice sessions in Valencia and later three 45-minute sessions.” But then you get used to such quick adaptations on the fast lane.

GP II, however, is another ball game. The engine is 600bhp Renault, though the body is carbon fibre composites, just like the Nissan World Series cars. The dimensions are pretty much the same, and in tyres more towards F1 in groove surfaces (against slick). 

“We haven’t really thought about it, but I do keep my hopes on the reinvigorated F1 teams,” Karthikeyan said. “Surely, they will be back, those like Minardi and Jaguar. The news that Jaguar (who have pulled out) will be back next year under a new management and a new name, taken over by Red Bull, is great.” 

Incidentally, apart from Tata and JK Tyre, Karthikeyan is also sponsored by this Australian energy drink company Red Bull. It should give the Indian a great push towards his ultimate goal, Formula One.

At this point, though, Karthikeyan is worried with his ‘did not finish’ tags in the last Nissan World Series season. “In terms of pace and wins it was pretty good,” he said. “But I did not finish six out of the 18 races, mostly due to technical faults (one because of a puncture) and one because of my own mistake.”

The final race, at the former home of Spanish Grand Prix Sunday, yielded a fifth position in which Karthikeyan held off experienced French driver Tristan Gommendy. Gommendy had a big advantage on a special set of brand-new tyres, but the Le Mans 24 Hours veteran still couldn’t find a way past Karthikeyan. 

Incidentally, Karthikeyan was on this high-speed track for the very first time. Race-winner Heikki Kovalainen, on the other hand, took advantage of extensive testing there for the Renault Formula 1 team. 

Chandhok created a flutter, so to say, qualifying fifth in just his fourth start in the category. He had to contend with Gommendy, being alongside the Frenchman and behind Karthikeyan. “But being not familiar with the track and less familiar with the car, I moved over to the dirty part of the track,” said Chandhok. 

“The circuit is near the beach and the sand and dust come up onto the track. Racers generally follow one racing line, where the grip is better, and hence chances to overtake aren’t that many. That is a challenge in itself, but not being too aware of this, I slipped on low-grip surface. I tapped onto the back of Karthikeyan’s car. Karthikeyan’s movement wasn’t affected, but I broke my front wing… Then there was this procession of cars behind me. Pretty tough, but I hung onto eighth place.”

Karthikeyan is also opening up a new chapter in his career. He plans to get into the testing league in the American Indy racing. Indy racing is different in that the oval track provides less variety as far as track goes, but appeals to a captive crowd. Also cars are American and hardy enough for the 500 or so laps. “This is a great experience. Last month I tested an Indy car in Phoenix, Arizona, and I believe I have the confidence.”

Interestingly, the confusion in the Formula One ranks has suddenly generated interest in the American style races. Simply because that is still a possibility, feel drivers who cannot garner those hefty millions that Formula One demand.

Chandhok can wait a while, because of his age (20). “F1 is about dog-eat-dog, and it will remain that way. Personally I am not very sure if the manufacturers’ championships as a rival to Ecclestone’s will really take off,” he said. 

“Surely it is a matter of corporate decisions. Look at Ford, they had to move out because they did not find enough business sense to justify their investment in the current championship any more. But you will always need those Eddie Jordans, those down to earth men nearer to the machines then any corporate head honcho.”

Just that Formula One might be pricing itself out of the market. There could be a queer Indian benefit in that.