After wanting good for a prime six begin at the Twin Ring Motegi early on, an off-track second at the ultimate nook throughout Q2 put paid to the prospects of a robust present in qualifying right here right this moment.
After ending the primary phase of qualifying in fourth place and searching set to progress into Q3 comfortably, Karthikeyan, who’s supported by Tata Sons and Tata Motors, ultimately ended up 14th after going off at the ultimate nook on a sizzling lap that was adequate for a prime six place.
Visiting the Tochigi venue after a spot of 13 years since he first competed in the erstwhile Formula Nippon collection again in 2001, it was anticipated to be a tricky weekend from the beginning given the extraordinarily technical nature of the circuit in addition to the current expertise his rivals take pleasure in at the 4.8-kilometre venue.
“The track is virtually new for me and quite technical and you are up against competition which knows their way around very well”, remarked Narain post-qualifying.
“It is a difficult situation because the series doesn’t allow much testing but I think we made a lot of progress in the limited time on offer. At the end ofFriday practice we were 1.3 seconds off and at the end of morning practice the gap was only six-tenths”, he added.
The Indian made an additional step ahead in qualifying, because the hole whittled all the way down to merely two-tenths to his pole-setter teammate J P De Oliveria. He completed Q1 in a robust fourth place and half-way into Q2, regarded set for a top-eight slot (development into Q3) and a spot in the pole-position shootout.
On his quick lap, the Indian was nearly two-tenths off his teammate after the primary two sectors however ended up attacking the ultimate nook with a bit an excessive amount of gusto which pressured him off the circuit and ended his qualifying prematurely.
“When you are trying to find a lot of lap time in a short duration you need to push very hard and sometimes it can just end up being a bit too much”, he added.
“The last corner is a bit off-camber and as soon as the car got on the dirty side, it was on the deck (floor) which meant I had no steering. I could see the finish line as it wasn’t even 100 metres away so it was really unfortunate”, remarked Narain.
“My teammate is super-fast here, and compared to him we were not more than three-tenths off at any point, so we could have definitely qualified in the top six or even better”, he added.
“When you try to find a lot of lap time in a short duration you need to push very hard and sometimes it can just end up being a bit too much.”
For the 52-lap race tomorrow, overtaking is anticipated to be tough given the twisty, technical nature of the observe.
“It is going be difficult to overtake, and of course it is not what we wanted especially with a good car under you. But that’s how it is and we just need to focus on the race and maximise the pace we have”, Karthikeyan concluded.
