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Narain Karthikeyan preparing for San Marino (Imola)
GP 2005
F1 Imola could pose new challenges to Narain Karthikeyan and team Jordan.
Update: Second Qualifying - Raikkonen takes pole
position, Alonso 2nd, Narain 17th. Schumacher 13th.
March 22, 2005 : The Jordan F1 team has been relatively quiet after the Bahrain Grand Prix 2005.
That was where Tiago Monteiro managed to get his Jordan Toyota EJ-15 into the top ten, but sand in the alternator put paid to Narain's hopes and he had to retire. Even sadder, considering that this was Narain's best ever start in his F1 career.
The three-week break after the Bahrain F1 saw Narain Karthikeyan taking a trip to India where he met tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa. She promised that Chennai would have its own F1 track and the Formula One races would come to Chennai. That makes Tamil Nadu the fourth state to aspire for Formula One.
After that it was back to testing for Narain Karthikeyan at Circuit Paul Ricard. On April 14th and 15th, narain and Tiago
carried out two days of testing. Most of the testing was modifications for the San
Marino Grand Prix at Imola, which is known to be tough on cars - and Jordan F1 cars did not have a great time here last year. Bridgestone is testing new tire compounds to handle the track at Imola desperate to close the gap with the Michelin runners. They are focused on Ferrari of course, but work has been going on for Jordan too.
Karthikeyan completed the greatest number of laps on the Thursday with 183 laps.
Also at the back of everyone at Jordan would be the fact that Minardi has an all-new car - the PS05 - at Imola, and while no one knows much about it so far, the car would be here for the public to see during Friday practice. There is a possibility that the car could pose a challenge to Jordan.
Narain's official statement on testing so far: “The test at Paul Ricard last week went very well. We did a lot of work trying to find the right Bridgestone tyres for San Marino but also for the next European races. We have also tested some new parts for the car and we are definitely making some progress. I did a lot of kilometres and I am particularly happy with my fitness. I do not really know what to expect from Imola because out of the Jordan drivers, I am the only one that has never driven on this circuit. It looks like I will need to use the kerbs a lot to get a good time, which will probably be a bit tricky. But having said that, Malaysia was also difficult, however I did well there so I am ready for the challenge and I will give my best.“
BM
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