Karun Chandhok ends season on high note

The British Formula 3 Scholarship Class may have been the first major race outing for 18-year-old reigning Asian Formula 2000 champion Karun Chandhok, but he did not show any signs of anxiety or nervousness. Like a true champion, he finished the season with a strong second place at the Donington Park Grand Prix circuit in England.

Karun went to England only with the objective of finishing in the top three as it was his first year of racing in England. Unlike him, all the other drivers had done two or three years of racing in England; naturally, they were quite familiar with the different race tracks and the weather conditions.

"So, for me, this year was more an experience building year. I will be happy if I finish in the top three," Karun had said earlier.

It is really commendable that he could finish the season standing on the podium when he was only looking at "an experience building year initially".

The season started with a few disappointments as he could finish only fifth and sixth in the first two races. But then things improved race after race, and by the time he was half way through the season, all the other teams realised that his team was a contender for the top three slots.

"We may not win the championship. It is not realistic to aspire to the championship. I know it is not possible," he told rediff.com when he was in Chennai during the half-season break.

Though he was in strong form by finishing fourth in the test session, the qualifying race held last weekend was not a particularly happy one for Karun. He struggled with a handling imbalance and ended the day with a pair of sixth positions for the final two races of the championship.

In the final Race 1, Karun made a storming start and passed four cars by the time the field exited the second corner, but then two corners later he got caught up in the confusion when Adam Carroll spun in front of the field and dropped back down to sixth. Later he retired whilst trying to re-pass Carroll at the Melbourne Hairpin.

Race 2 was exactly the opposite of race 1. At the start, Karun made a reasonable getaway to retain his sixth spot. On lap one, he passed Gavin Smith at Coppice and then five laps later, he passed Smith’s team mate Stephen Colbert in a bold move going into the final hairpin. Robert Dahlgren then went wide on the penultimate lap, which allowed Karun into third place.

Determined to put his recent setbacks behind him and finish the season on a high, the Madras-born driver dived down the inside of team-mate Clivio Piccione as they went into the first corner starting the last lap. It played to Karun’s advantage and he came home to collect his trophy for second place from none other than the three-time Formula 1 world champion Nelson Piquet.

Reflecting on his first year of F3, Karun said, "This year has been really good for me. Today’s race was particularly good for me because it’s the first time I think I fought so hard in a race for each and every position, and it feels good going into the off-season with a result like this especially since I had the privilege of receiving the trophy from Mr.Piquet.

"I would really like to thank the team, my sponsors, and my parents for their support this year. Without any of these people I would not be here today."

Team owner Russell Eacott and Karun’s race engineer Alan Woodhead were both very happy with the result as well.

"The driver who drove the car today is not the same who we had at the start of the year. Karun’s progress this year has been remarkable and today showed that he's learnt how to be aggressive in races as well. On the back of his six podiums from this year, we are really looking forward to working together with him once again next year."

Plans are now well underway for Karun's 2003 season and while nothing is finalised as of now, Karun seems confident of knowing where he stood.

"We have a few plans and ideas. I think it’s still a little early to go into details but I think that my sponsors have been happy with what I have achieved this year and all of them have expressed their intention to support me in the future. This obviously is the main link in the whole chain for the next step towards Formula 1."