If luck was with Karun Chandhok at Corby in the first week of August, when he finished first and second in Round 15 and 16 and upstaged Stephen Kane to second place in the overall standings at the British Formula 3 Championship (Scholarship class), it deserted him in Round 17 and 18, at the Thruxton circuit in Hampshire, and he could only finish third.
The Thruxton circuit is considered as one of the fastest race tracks, where average speed over a single lap exceed 195 km/h. Having won five out of the last eight races, Karun said, he and the T-Sport team were looking forward to extending their championship lead. However, the team encountered various problems and mishaps in the test sessions on Friday.
"It meant that we never were able to quite get a good indication as to how competitive the package was. The super fast nature of the circuit lays a greater importance on car setup than at most other venues on the calendar."
At the end of the two qualifying sessions on Saturday, Chandhok had secured a 3rd and 2nd starting positions respectively for the two races on Sunday, just two-tenths of a second away from pole in both sessions.
A slightly disappointed Chandhok said: "In the first session I got caught out with the traffic and was not too happy because I felt we should've been quicker. The second session though was not too bad but certainly it looks like Viso has a bit of an edge on us this weekend. Unfortunately, we couldn't make full use of the test day and it's hurting us a bit now."
About the first Race which the 19-year-old finished third, he said, "At the start, I made a good move into the inside of the complex of corners after turn one but I was shoved wide onto the grass by Ernesto Viso. I then made a bold move around the outside of Can Artam into the chicane but lost out to Viso a lap later. Actually, I was pulling up alongside one of the championship class cars when he shoved me off to the side almost onto the grass which caused me to lift off in the middle of the straight. This allowed Viso to just drive straight past me in a straight line."
Between the top three contenders in Race 17, Steven Kane, Viso and Chandhok, just 1.3 seconds separated them.
Race 2 promised to be better for Chandhok for he once again made a good start and was running just behind Viso at the front with Kane a few seconds behind. Slowly Karun started dropping back.
"Viso was a little bit quicker but only by a tenth or two for the first few laps but then from lap 4 or 5 onwards I started having a problem with the front left tyre. Every lap it got worse and I had to drive slower and slower. Finally by half distance there were chunks of rubber coming flying off and by the end of the race it was down to the canvas. I seriously thought about stopping purely from a safety point of view but decided that points were more important. I was very lucky to finish!! Steven Kane passed me a few laps from home and that left me frustrated in a 3rd place once again."
According to T-Sport team owner Russell Eacott, Karun did well by finishing third in the second race despite having such a major problem with the car tyre.
"Thruxton is notorious for its tyre wear but even so the problem on Karun's car is very unusual and he did very well to bring the car home with the tyre like that. It's difficult to tell what caused the problem because we hadn't experienced any difficulties with the tyres all through the weekend. It's a shame because he was close to Viso and was on course for a second place but that's motor racing!."
The next two races for Chandhok will be at the Spa circuit in Belgium in two weeks time.
"I'm really looking forward to Spa. All year I've heard people talking about how incredible it is and now I'm finally going to experience it. It's going to be a hard weekend for me though because both Viso and Steven have been there before and I haven't, but we'll see what happens when we get there," he said.
Results :
Round 17: 1. Steven Kane, 2. Ernesto Viso, 3. Karun Chandhok
Round 18: 1. Ernesto Viso, 2. Steven Kane, 3. Karun Chandhok
Championship positions: 1. Steven Kane - 253 points, 2. Karun Chandhok - 244, 3. Ernesto Viso - 237.
