Narain impresses at Macau

CHENNAI, Nov 22: Indian Formula-3 racer Narain Karthikeyan recovered from a poor qualifying start and pre-race warm-up to climb steadily from 29th place on the grid to 11th place overall after the two leg fifth Macau Grand Prix here today. Leg One saw Narain shoot to 16th place after steadily coming up from a 29th place start at the back of the grid. After overtaking two cars at a time for a third of the leg, Narain was back in the thick of the race.

Leg two saw a brilliant start for Narain. He passed three cars before entering the infamous Lisboa Bend on the opening lap. He took it on the outside and stayed away from the traffic. During the latter part of the leg, Narain’s lap times were becoming quicker and more consistent, clocking a best time of 2:16.266 on his 28th lap, just 1.6765 seconds off the fastest lap set by Bas Leinders of Van Amersfoort Racing, champion of the 1998 German F-3 championships. Narain finished 11th on the first leg and 8th on the second.