Narain clinches fifth position

Narain got off to a poor start from 7th place on the grid, dropping immediately to 8th before sweeping past two cars at the fast Copse bend at over 125 Mph. As Button tried desperately to overhaul Hynes at the front of the pack, Narain found his progress blocked by South African driver Toby Scheckter, son of World Champion Ferrari driver, Jody Scheckter.

The huge diamond video screens which surround the circuit, bringing the action to the assembled 100,000 fans,concentrated on this battle as Narain tried repeatedly to get past and begin his chase to the join the leading cars.

Narain pushed his car alongside several times but on each occasion, Scheckter slammed the door and it looked for a while that 6th place was going to be the best that Narain could manage.

But India’s finest managed to outwit and outmaneuver his adversary with a heart-stopping lunge down the inside at Priory corner. Scheckter drove fairly and with maturity, and accepting defeat, let Narain through safely without the two cars touching.

Once free of this obstruction, Narain settled down and concentrated on getting maximum speed out of his car as he chased 4th place man, Kristian Kolby from Denmark. Luciano Burti, the Championship leader, had fallen away from the leading duo into 3rd place and his hopes of a win here would result only in the loss of the lead of the Championship to Hynes.

Narain’s race was a clear demonstration of the importance of a good qualifying position and he reflectedon the high speed spin during first qualifying on Friday which had seen him dropped from second place on the provisional grid, wrecked one of his race tyres and left him surrounded by a pack of slower cars at the start.

Narain Karthikeyan said: “This isn’t the script that we had in mind when we came to the race but the team and I did all we could to reverse our misfortunes. I was running faster on the track than Kolby who was ahead of me, but I must have lost at least 6 seconds being stuck behind Scheckter. A podium finish could have otherwise been possible, but I am pleased to hold 3rd place in the Championship and I’m confident that I’ll be back in the winner’s circle at the next round.”