Accident, driveshaft failure hamper A1 Team India, finish 9th

Durban, Feb 26 (UNI) An accident and a driveshaft failure did not allow Narain Karthikeyan to complete his first A1GP street race but the gritty driver's effort behind the wheel was enough to steer A1 Team India to a ninth spot finish in the Feature race here.

In a chaotic race, A1 Team India car became the victim of a first corner accident after starting at 15th following the sprint race.

However, Karthikeyan took no time in recovering and was soon running in ninth place when a driveshaft failure ended his race, three laps from the end. But with more than a three-lap gap to the next car, the team retained the place, ahead of A1 Team Pakistan.

Karthikeyan suffered a series of unlucky incidents which hampered a weekend that had originally promised so much. However, the team managed to salvage two valuable points after yesterday's race putting them 18th in the overall standings.

The weekend began well for the India team, with Karthikeyan setting the second fastest time in first practice, less than 48 hours after testing an F1 car for the Williams F1 Team.

However, the team's performance was compromised after an accident during Karthikeyan's first flying lap. Rejoining the track, Karthikeyan found the car's steering had been badly affected.

Karthikeyan chose to start the race from the pit lane rather than from his 21st grid slot, and managed to avoid a first corner incident which ended a number of team's races. After several more accidents and retirements, the Indian car finished the Sprint race in 15th, the position the team would take for the 70 minute Feature race.

The Feature race turned out no less chaotic than the rest of the weekend but Karthikeyan said he was happy with the A1 Team India's performance.

''It was a disastrous weekend to be honest. A lot of it was out of our control, we were chasing a problem that was very difficult to solve. The engine mountings were broken, and by the time we found out, it was too late to fix our race car, so we had to use a spare instead,'' he said.

A1 Team India will take a four week break before the next round of the season in Mexico, on March 25.

UNI