Indian dominates weekend to win the first ever FV6A

26/10/2006

India’s Karun Chandhok became the first ever driver to win the Asian Formula Renault V6 series with 3 dominant victories this weekend. The result left the Indian with 131 points, 24 ahead of Team New Zealand’s A1 Grand Prix lead driver Matt Halliday and Ananda Mikola in 3rd with 98 points.

On Friday, Karun was fastest in every practice session as well as in all the four qualifying segments, showing that being out of the car for 10 weeks didn’t create a lot of rustiness. Matt Halliday though came very near to ruining Karun’s perfect run in the final qualifying session, but ended up just 0.024s behind the Indian. Speaking afterwards, Karun said “It’s really great to have a double pole today. It’s a big weekend with 4 races but atleast we’re starting in front. What’s even better for the Championship is that Ananda is down in 5th and with the two extra points for pole, things are looking better for the Championship.” In qualifying 1, Karun smashed the Zhuhai track record set by Christophe Bouchut of France in an Aston Martin GT car by .63 of a second.

Rounds 9 and 10 of the series were held on Saturday over 12 and 20 laps respectively with Rounds 11 and 12 on Sunday over the same distances.

Round 9

The start of Round 9 was a rolling start and Karun and Halliday raced wheel to wheel almost touching as they went through Turn 1. The Indian managed to fend off his rival but Halliday came back at him into the tight Turn 3 hairpin. “The safety car driver for the warm up lap was really slow and I was really struggling to get temperature in the brakes on the first lap. Matt and I were side by side through turn 3 and we nearly hit each other but in the end it worked out ok.” said Karun. Once he fended off the first lap challenge from Halliday, the race settled down with the two leaders pushing ahead. Both Chandhok and Halliday were matching each others pace with some very impressive laptimes which helped them to move away from the pack. Halliday was never really close enough to challenge Karun and at the flag, the two leaders were separated by just 0.8 of a second, with Karun’s team-mate Hans Lin in 3rd and Championship rival Ananda Mikola in 4th.

Round 10

For Round 10 Halliday had saved a set of brand new tyres from qualifying which would normally provide extra grip especially in the opening laps of the race. As the lights went out, Karun made what he reckoned was his best start of the year to burst into the lead, once again followed by Halliday. Just as in Race 1, the two leaders pulled away from the pack but Halliday, despite his new tyres, didn’t seem to be able to match Karun’s pace as well as he did in the earlier race. The Indian controlled the race from the front pulling away and then conserving the car towards the end of the 20 lap races, moving him within 2 points of the Championship. “The second race was really awesome. I knew Matt had new tyres so I made sure that I did a really slow warm up lap which didn’t allow his tyres to build up the temperature he needed to get the advantage from them. This really helped me over the first 4 laps and once I got in front I was able to run at a better pace than him for the race. Matt was pushing all the way though and I really had to concentrate a 110% to make sure I made no mistakes. The Championship is looking good now but anything can happen in Motorsport !”.

Round 11

In front of an enormous crowd Karun shot into the lead of Round 11 on Sunday morning with Halliday once again in pursuit. Despite needing just a 9th place finish, the Indian pushed ahead increasing his lead as he pleased in a race that was pretty much the replay of the two on Saturday with Karun and Halliday pulling away from the pack. This time though Karun seemed more in control and was able to open a gap to Halliday before the New Zealander stabilised things at about 1.5 seconds. Karun though soaked up the pressure and didn’t put a foot wrong, setting the fastest lap on route to his 5th consecutive victory as well as the Championship. After the race, a delighted Karun spoke of his nervous ride “The car was brilliant but I just kept thinking back to the mechanical failures we had earlier in the year so it was quite a nervous race. I was able to control the pace well and to win the Championship with a race to go is the best Diwali present I could think of for team, my sponsors JK Tyre, S & N and Amaron, my family as well as everyone from the media who have been great this year. Now we can relax and just enjoy the last race of the year this afternoon.”

Round 12

The final race of the year started perfectly for Karun with a great start followed by a strong few corners which helped him to open a lead. Half way around the first lap though, an engine failure ended his race while in the lead.

Reflecting on the season, Karun said “This year has been really enjoyable for me. After a difficult season in 2005 I came into this series to win and use it as a platform to move on to the World Series in Europe or the Champcar Atlantic Series in America. To have won 7 races and also the Championship against quality drivers like Halliday and Ananda is just the perfect way for me to remind people that I can still drive quickly ! I really have to thank everyone at E-Rain Racing, my race engineer Anthony Hieatt from Raikkonnen Robertson Racing in England and of course our sponsors JK Tyre, Scottish and Newcastle and Amaron.”

Final championship standings 2006

Karun Chandhok – 131 points

Matt Halliday – 107 points

Ananda Mikola – 98 points

Race Results –

Round 9 –

Karun Chandhok ( India )

Matt Halliday ( New Zealand )

Hans Lin ( Taiwan )

Round 10 –

Karun Chandhok ( India )

Matt Halliday ( New Zealand )

Hans Lin ( Taiwan )

Round 11 –

Karun Chandhok ( India )

Matt Halliday ( New Zealand )

Ananda Mikola ( Indonesia )

Round 12 –

Matt Halliday ( New Zealand )

Marchy Lee ( Hong Kong )

Adderly Fong ( Hong Kong )

Prepared by karunchandhok.com