By Anand Philar, IANS
Chennai : After a successful test session with Formula One team red Bull, Karun Chandhok has signed up with Team iSport International for the 2008 GP2 series and will also compete in the newly introduced GP2 Asia that will serve as a warm-up for the main championship.
It is a huge boost for Karun, who drove for team Durango, this year and chalked up his maiden and only win at the Spa circuit and finished the season in 15th position with 16 points.
The Spa success fetched him an invite to drive for Red Bull Racing during Formula One winter testing at Jerez, Spain, in November.
The Norwich-based iSport International won the team championship and also the drivers’ title (Timo Glock) in 2007 and is among the most sought-after outfits in GP2. Glock has since moved to Toyota Formula One team.
Karun will partner 24-year old Brazilian Bruno Senna, the nephew of the late Ayrton Senna. In 2007, Senna drove for Arden International and was placed eighth in the championship with 34 points. Arden finished seventh in team championship.
“iSport has been the most sought after drive on the grid and for them to have taken up the option to run me is a huge confidence boost. I enjoyed my time with Durango last year, but when I tested with iSport soon after the last race of the season, right from the first few laps I knew that this was the team I wanted to be with,” Karun told IANS.
Typically, a drive in the main GP2 series in Europe will cost about 1.5 million euros and another 600,000 euros for the Asia series.
The GP2 Asia series was designed to attract more drivers from the region, but the huge budget has proved to be a deterrent.
The cars in the Asia series would be run on the older 2005-07 specifications while for the Euro series cars will see a brand new specification car powered by a 650 bhp Renault engine capable of speeds of 330 kmph.
The Asia series will commence with two two-day test sessions in Dubai (Jan 19-20 and 22-23) and comprise five rounds. The first and second rounds will be run as part of the Grand Racing weekend with the Supercar Series in Dubai (Jan 25-26) and Indonesia (Feb 16-17) before becoming support event for Formula One GP races in Malaysia (March 20-23) and Bahrain (April 3-6). The series will conclude in Dubai with a grand finale April 11-12 and then head to Europe where 11 rounds would be run.
iSport International’s Team Principal Paul Jackson said: “We initially got talking around the middle of the year about doing the GP2 Asia series. He tested with us in Jerez as part of our winter testing program to evaluate drivers for the future and we were all pleasantly surprised with how well he went especially in the race simulation run.”