Karthikeyan to drive for India

Red Bulldog · 16 Jan 2007, 20:11 (Ref:1816906)

Narain Karthikeyan will drive for India at Taupo according to A1 Podium
http://a1podium.com/index.php
He's also getting a "good financial package" for his troubles!

SALEEN S7R · 16 Jan 2007, 20:19 (Ref:1816912)

Good to have another high profile driver joining A1 GP. Sure his F1 career wasnt hugely sucessful but he wasnt at the very back of the grid, I remember him qualifying around 14th or 15th a few times.

I just hope he likes A1 and stays in the series, A1 is certainly attracting a lot of ex F1 drivers at the moment.

Red Bulldog · 16 Jan 2007, 20:25 (Ref:1816916)

Yes, I was quite impressed with him at Jordan

chillibowl · 16 Jan 2007, 20:32 (Ref:1816920)

excellent news indeed

but sadly the link provided is not working for me, nor do i see anything about it on India's A1 page yet

maybe i should jsut be patient

Knowlesy · 16 Jan 2007, 21:38 (Ref:1816974)

Can he be made an honorary Brit in time for the weekend?

Excellent stuff, Karthikeyan is a top peddler and his style should be exciting in an A1 GP car, heaven knows it was thrilling in an F1 Jordan!

strider · 16 Jan 2007, 22:20 (Ref:1817009)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

Can he be made an honorary Brit in time for the weekend?

I think he is an honorary Brit already. Ask Carlin Motorsport. He took the first F3 podium for them and was a very popular competitor in British F3. He should be great in A1GP.

Kiwi3 · 17 Jan 2007, 04:13 (Ref:1817151)

I will wait for a more credible source however I hope it is true. He is clearly India's best driver and will make India suddenly very competitive. Plus he should be spectacular!

Peno · 17 Jan 2007, 06:40 (Ref:1817181)

Hopefully he can do well but it will depend on how well India's technical team will support him.

mjolnir · 17 Jan 2007, 08:20 (Ref:1817228)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kiwi3

I will wait for a more credible source however I hope it is true. He is clearly India's best driver and will make India suddenly very competitive. Plus he should be spectacular!

http://www.a1gp.com/News/NewsArticle.aspx?newsId=30272

is that official enough?

Suze · 17 Jan 2007, 20:29 (Ref:1817871)

That's good news (and yes official enough!

), don't think he's a bad driver at all.

**Asp** · 17 Jan 2007, 21:10 (Ref:1817905)

It's always good to see the "big" names appear in the series.
A1GP has had a reputation as a "feeder" series for career drivers - mainly because, I suppose, because that was a goal for those countries without much motorsport experience.
However, to enhance the reputation of the series it's great to see people move in who have had experience at the very top flight of motorsport in other series.

SALEEN S7R · 17 Jan 2007, 21:26 (Ref:1817923)

Yes thats true but now the series is in danger of being known as "F1 rejects" a friend of mine recently said this, it does make you think, there are a lot of ex F1 drivers in A1 GP at the moment. Alex Yoong, Tomas Enge, Jos Verstappen, Ralph Firman, and after this weekend Narain Karthikeyan will all have competed in the series after leaving F1 in A1's short history.

Personally I dont think its as bad as all that but the series has to be careful as it could potentially turn out to be just that, a series for F1 rejects and drivers who arent going to make it into F1.

Suze · 17 Jan 2007, 21:29 (Ref:1817928)

No but they're all drivers who (sweeping stereotype) spent not that long (comparitively to others) in F1. If you were getting, say, the likes of Hakkinen, Villeneuve, Alesi etc then I would not be so keen!

Knowlesy · 17 Jan 2007, 21:36 (Ref:1817936)

F1 rejects as opposed to what? F3 rejects?

I mean, it's a great series and all that, but let's not fool ourselves by thinking it is offering drives other series can't. It is not a talent pool by any stretch.

At the moment it offers a good mix and will continue to do so, unless we have F1 dropouts for every nation in a short space of time...unlikely.

nkfan · 17 Jan 2007, 23:28 (Ref:1818029)

glad to see him racing again !!! ...i hope he does well !!!

come on !! brings us our first point Narain !!!

**gomick** · 21 Jan 2007, 04:55 (Ref:1820698)

and he did, 7th in the feature race - good work narain & team india

Armco Bender · 21 Jan 2007, 08:26 (Ref:1820729)

He probably did best of the drivers with F1 experience,but it was a distant 7th.Enge was a disappointing and Yoong didn't feature.

strider · 21 Jan 2007, 13:14 (Ref:1820913)

I thought Narain did okay and it was good to have him there. The problem was that his performance in early testing flattered to deceive. We don't know good the car is, but it's definitely not the best. Even so, he set the second fastest lap in the Feature race.

If he's still around, just wait to see what he does at Brands Hatch! That's more his kind of circuit.

Kiwi3 · 31 Jan 2007, 15:13 (Ref:1830274)

Partiva Sureshwaren will be driving at Eastern Creek as Karthikeyan will be at the Williams F1 launch. I guess Armaan Ebrahim must be out of favour now then.

Karthikeyan will do the remaining four rounds of the season (Durban, Mexico, Shanghai and Brands Hatch).

This is according to an Indian news website.

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