Narain confident of giving his best

For the first time in his debut Formula One season, Narain Karthikeyan actually sounds confident. And it’s not the fourth-place in the controversial US Grand Prix that’s given him this feeling but the venue of this weekend’s race: Magny-Cours, of which both he and Jordan have fond memories.

For Jordan, the French Grand Prix is where it won its last GP, through the efforts of Heinz-Harald Frentzen in 1999. And though Frentzen had vast experience, no one, Narain points out, expected him to win. “It was a combination of teamwork and strategy, apart from the German’s grit”, Narain told this website’s newspaper.

While Jordan has a happy history at the circuit, Magny-Cours was where Narain secured the first major win of his career during last year’s Nissan World Series. That race saw him lead from start to finish but, in the second race later that day, he managed fourth place.

The circuit, a combination of slow corners and tight hairpins, usually tests drivers to the limit. Narain, though, says it suits his style of driving. “Though the World Series is very different to F1″, he says, “I’m hoping to exploit my knowledge of the track. I’ve always found a good balance and rhythm here and enjoy driving on it.”

He knows the pitfalls, though. He remembers the Adelaide hairpin where he locked his brakes last year, which reduced his margin of victory to just three seconds.

Likewise, in Race-2 that day, Narain got a drive-through penalty for speeding in his first pit-stop, which dropped him out of podium contention. “I got carried away, so the mistake”, he explained. “It’s been a long time since then, and things are much different now.”

Jordan were supposed to debut their EJ15B car at magny-Cours but insufficient testing has ruled that out. Narain, though, didn’t appear too put out by that. “It’s better to have a reliable car rather that go in for experimenting.”

The US GP result may or may not be a confidence booster to Narain; his fourth-place finish was due solely to the fact that there were only six cars in the race. But his placing has given him the advantage of qualifying better.

Earlier, when finishing in position 16 and 17, Narain would be among the early birds out on the track. This was disadvantageous for two reasons; first running on a track with no racing line set and the second being subjected to several impediments on the track which at times slows down a driver’s approach.

Having finished fourth, Narain on Saturday would be the 16th car out, which he says, “makes a huge difference”.

Jordan, which has good memories of the track as Heinz-Harald Frentzen won here in 1999, are not in a haste to launch their upgraded version and would continue in their EJ15 model in the next race.

“We have been working really hard in between the last two fly-aways and the next pair of doubleheaders. We tested the new car last week at Barcelona for two days. Most of the signs were very favourable. However, we do have some issues we would like to resolve before we race the car. Therefore, in Magny-Cours, we will stay with the EJ15,” Jordan Sporting Director Adrian Burgess said in the team’s press release.

Reliability

Burgess said reliability of the vehicle would be the primary issue before it is run in a race.

“We will decide after France if we want to race the new car at Silverstone or not. One of our objectives is to keep our very good reliability record and this is why we will not introduce the new car until we are satisfied with its reliability.”

However, another Jordan driver Tiago Monteiro of Portugal, who finished third in the race of six drivers at Indianapolis, said he was motivated but also realistic about his team’s chances.

Amazing race

“We are heading to France after an amazing race and opportunity in Indianapolis with my first podium and points with the team. However, we also have to come back to reality, as we know we still have to improve the car a lot. We will have to keep up the good work and our reliability record to maybe hope for some more points later on in the season, but now we are even more motivated.

“France is very important for me. I have raced there at the beginning of my racing career and I have a lot of fans and friends there. I could nearly say that it is one of my home races. I also know the circuit at Magny-Cours pretty well.

“I tested the new EJ15B in Barcelona last week and we experienced some teething problems. It looked very nice and aggressive but we definitely need more running before being able to use it for the race.”