By IANS
Taupo (New Zealand) : A1 Team India, fresh off its recent victory at China in December, had an unfortunate start to the weekend as it struggled with its car’s gearbox during the qualifying session at the Taupo Motorsport Park here Saturday.
The fifth A1GP race of the season is slated for Sunday, and during the qualifying session here all the 22 teams battled out in tricky weather conditions at the lake city.
The usually sunny, warm climate gave way to an exceptionally windy day – throwing sand across the track at several crucial and tight corners – making the qualifying session even more challenging for the drivers.
A1 Team India driver Narain Karthikeyan experienced severe gear selection problems and said that it seemed a mechanical more than an electronic problem.
“I had a problem during downshifting of the gear box. The problem persisted from this morning’s practice through to the entire qualifying session. Essentially it seems more like a mechanical than an electronic problem. The team is working on the car now,” said Karthikeyan in a statement.
A1 Team India CEO Andaleeb Sehgal conceded: “We faced problems with the set up of the car today. We will work on the car overnight and hope we move up on the grid in the race tomorrow.”
A1 Team India mechanics are trying to work on the problem and will look at turning around the car’s performance. A1GP and Zytek engineers are also working on the problem and the team hopes to have things in place for the Sunday race.
A1 Team India stands in 20th place on the starting grid for the Sprint race and 19th for the Feature race with a lap time of 1:16.791.