Karthikeyan gets the go-ahead to race

Saturday 12th May 2012

Karthikeyan gets the go-ahead to race

Karthikeyan gets the go-ahead to race

Narain Karthikeyan will contest the Spanish GP despite qualifying outside the 107 percent rule on Saturday.

The HRT driver posted a 1:31.122 during Q1, which put him over 8.5s down on the P1 time.

That meant the Indian driver was outside the qualifying time and HRT had to head down to the Spanish stewards to ask permission for their driver to race.

The team revealed that the stewards gave Karthikeyan the green light to line-up because he had 'set times within the limit during the morning's free practice session.'

"It's been a very unlucky weekend for me so far," said Karthikeyan.

"In the morning everything went smoothly but in the afternoon, with the first set of tyres I was pushing really hard and spun on turn 3 and, as a result, I flat-spotted a tyre so I had to come back in to the garage.

"We were going to go on the second set of tyres but we discovered some problems and due to safety concerns, not only for myself but the others, we decided that the best thing was to not go back out.

"It seems like my bad luck continues to follow me this weekend and, although I'm disappointed about that, there's nothing else I can do but keep giving it my best shot."

Related Links
Qualy: Hamilton claims first Spanish pole
Saturday's shots from Spain

User comments

    Loading

      Post a comment

      Sunday's Pictures From Canada

      Editor's Picks

      Team-Mate Wars: Montreal

      Team-Mate Wars: Montreal

      Andrew Davies identifies the winners and losers in their respective teams from Sunday's Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal...

      Winners & Losers: Canada

      Winners & Losers: Canada

      Vettel broke Red Bull's North American duck by scoring a dominant win - despite excursions, delays and diversions...

      Montreal With Sure For Men

      Montreal With Sure For Men

      Lotus sponsor Sure For Men brings you a detailed pictorial timeline of the team's Canadian GP weekend...

      Tyred and Emotional

      Tyred and Emotional

      Andrew Davies sticks his big fat oar into the tyre debate and notes how much the FIA have changed...

      NTFN: Kimi's New Job

      NTFN: Kimi's New Job

      Force India are still wrestling with Sutil's nuts allergy, while Kimi Raikkonen has branched out into PR...