Karthikeyan gets licence
Narain Karthikeyan, India's first Formula 1 driver, qualified for his Superlicense at Silverstone yesterday while getting his first taste of the Jordan-Toyota EJ15 he will drive this season
The World Series by Nissan graduate had previously tested for the team's former ownership as well as Jaguar, but this was his first F1 outing since officially signing for Jordan. Karthikeyan took over the first EJ15 from team-mate Tiago Monteiro at a wet Silverstone, and completed 300kms of trouble-free running.
"Last time I drove a single-seater car was in November and the first thing I've driven on the circuit since then is a Formula 1 car!" said Karthikeyan. "So it was very quick and very exciting this morning but now I'm getting used to it and it's time to get on with the work."
Jordan's new Sporting Director Trevor Carlin, who ran Karthikeyan in both Formula 3 and his first season of World Series racing, was delighted with the results of early testing and the performance of his rookie drivers.
"It's positive that we've had good reliability and were able to cover plenty of mileage, and we are very impressed with how quickly both drivers have got back into the groove of driving racing cars after a couple of months out of them," said Carlin.
"They are both comfortable with the EJ15 and they are being sensible and not pushing to the limit at this stage. To be honest I think they are both enjoying it immensely!"
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