Full Throttle

Narain Karthikeyan made his Formula One track debut with the first testing session for Jordan Toyota in Silverstone in Northamptonshire. It was a perfect test run for Narain and his teammate Tiego Monteiro of Portugal. The brand new Jordan Toyota EJ15 roared over 400 km, well more than a full Grand Prix distance of 300 km, to prove its reliability.

“It went very well, we did lots of distance and I’m happy with the test so far. We had no major problems, and achieved my aim which was to complete 300km,” Narain said after the testing at the famous circuit where Formula One was born in 1950.

“Last time I drove a single-seater car was in November and the first thing I’ve driven on the circuit since then is a Formula One car!” he said.

Faultless run

Monteiro opened up the session for the Silverstone based team before Narain took over to complete a faultless run which has taken the overall distance covered by the car including the shakedown earlier in the week to over 700 km.

Team director Trevor Carlin said he was happy with the car’s performance as well as the quick way the two drivers had adapted to F1 racing.

“It’s positive that we’ve had good reliability and were able to cover plenty of mileage, and we are very impressed with how quickly both drivers have got back into the groove of driving racing cars after a couple of months out of them,” he said.

Two more testings remain ahead of the first race of the season at Melbourne on March 6. The next testing is slated for Barcelona, Spain, next week before the third and final one back in Silverstone. (PTI)

Source: NDTV.com