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Chinese GP: Narain qualifies in 15th position
Narain Karthikeyan continued with his impressive performance on the Jordan-Toyota EJ15B to qualify in 15th position today.
- Indo-Asian News Service
- Updated: February 25, 2007 09:52 AM IST
Read Time:2 min
Shanghai:
Narain Karthikeyan continued with his impressive performance on the Jordan-Toyota EJ15B to qualify in 15th position today for the season ending Chinese Grand Prix. The 28-year old Indian clocked a superb 1 minute and 36.707 seconds to finish ahead of former world champion Jacques Villeneuve (16th) in Sauber Petronas and Takumo Sato (17th) in Bar Honda. "I had a clean lap. The balance of the car is good. We are ready for the race," Narain said. Karthikeyan's teammate Tiago Monteiro battled hard to get the right combination of car balance and tyres to finish 19th in 1 minute and 39.233 seconds. Fernando Alonso, who has already secured the world championship, claimed the pole followed by his Renault's team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella. McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen was third. Commenting on the session today, Karthikeyan said, "I did a very good qualifying lap even though I have lost a little bit of time compared to this morning." "Nevertheless, we are satisfied with the balance of the car. I think we also have chosen the right Bridgestone tyre compound for the race," he added. "Hopefully we can have a good Grand Prix out of it tomorrow. It will be interesting because there are several places for overtaking here," he said. Emotional day It will be an emotional day for the Jordan team when the two cars vroom away from the grid tomorrow as this would be the last race under its current name of Jordan Grand Prix. The Silverstone-based team will be renamed as Jordan Midlands from next year, signalling the full takeover by Canadian-Russian business tycoon Alex Schneider. In its 15 years of F1 racing, Jordan has achieved four wins, including the historic 1-2 finish at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium with Damon Hill and Ralf Schumacher in 1988. Jordan has also claimed the podium on 19 other occasions, the latest being Tiago Monteiro in the third place at the US Grand Prix this year. Team Jordan has also scored two pole positions and a total of 291 points in its history. The British outfit has also served as a launchpad for many champion drivers including seven-time winner Michael Schumacher. (PTI)Topics mentioned in this article
Formula 1 Narain Karthikeyan
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