21/08/2005
NEWS STORY
Jordan Grand Prix drivers, Narain Karthikeyan and Tiago Monteiro, had very good starts at the inaugural Turkish Grand Prix and managed to overtake a few cars. After his first pit stop, Monteiro experienced some gearbox issues, which prevented him from pushing his car to a faster pace and allowed Karthikeyan to pass him after the second stop. Monteiro had an unavoidable incident with Montoya at the end of the race, but nevertheless, he managed to finish in 15th position, his impressive 14th consecutive finish. Both drivers had the same pit-stop strategy, which saw them stop three times for fuel on the way to the finish and took a degree of satisfaction from their persistent performances in today’s race.
Narain Karthikeyan: Losing nearly the whole of Saturday not completing any flying laps hurt me a lot in the race, as, at the beginning, I had to take some time to learn the circuit again, which was a big disadvantage. I kept pushing and I just wanted to finish the race. Towards the end, I had to be a bit conservative with my tyres which explains why I could not catch Doornbos. Considering the amount of laps I have done on Saturday, I am fairly happy with my result today.
Tiago Monteiro: Another finish for me, which is good for the record and the team. It was a very hard weekend because of the problem I had with an aching tooth. I was really fighting and I wanted a good result. After the first pit stop, I had a gearbox problem and lost first gear and then all the gears were a bit mixed up, which made my race very tricky. However, the times were looking good, I was quicker and quicker and catching my teammate near the end. Then, Montoya overtook me and shut the door in a braking zone. I could not avoid pushing him as I was blind and lost all the downforce. I am really sorry for him as he was fighting for a podium but we have talked a lot during the briefings that we should not move positions in braking areas. I do not really know what happened as I have not talked to him yet.
Dominic Harlow: We are very pleased that both cars have finished again. Tiago had his 14th consecutive finish, which is fantastic for a rookie. Narain did a great race having had so little running on a new circuit, having done only less than half a race distance here before. It is a very useful experience for both drivers and we will now go to Monza next week to test the EJ15B.