MUMBAI, August 2: Narain, driving a Dallara Opel 398 for the Kingfisher Carlin Motorsport team lined up an impressive start on the grid with only 0.22 of a second from the pole position which had gone to Brazil's Mario Haberfeld of Stewart Racing, the championship leader.Narain, the Kingfisher-backed driver, had been in the second spot for most of the qualifying session. ``I should have qualified second or third, but I did not get a clear lap. I came across too many slow cars and wasted eight o nine laps, and by that time, my new tyres had lost their best,'' said the Indian driver.Starting fifth on the grid, Narain made a good start and passed Brazil's Luciano Burti of Stewart Racing into the first corner and was immediately in the fourth position. He soon closed in on third placed Ricardo Maurico of Alan Dock Racing.Towards the end of two laps, Narain's car slid off line into the gravel at the Coppice Corner. As a result, the car suffered damage to its front left suspension and with that hisbrilliant drive came to a premature end.``I was pushing very hard and wanted to race myself for the third place before Ricardo could settle. I got close to the car in front and that upset the aerodynamic balance of my car. Hence I lost all its down force in the front and ran out of road on the exit of the corner,'' said Narain.In all, 25 drivers lined up for the demanding 1.96 miles National circuit. In the qualifying round, the first 15 cars were split by just 0.923 seconds, the closest qualifying the championship had witnessed in many years.Carlin Motorsport and Narain have now settled well together and are looking forward for the remaining rounds of the championship.
