Old stars and young guns launch i1 series with tests

CHENNAI: The former and current Formula One stars were impressed with the nimble Radical SR3 cars as they took it out for the first time while the young Indian lot were in awe, having got a chance to rub shoulders with racing greats during the pre-season test and shakedown of the i1 Supercar Series at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.
German Heinz-Harald Frentzen, a three-time F1 race winner, topped the time-sheets followed by Italian Giancarlo Fisichella and Karun Chandhok in the sessions held to get the drivers familiarize themselves with the SR3 ahead of the inaugural championship of the city based motorsport racing league beginning in January next year.
Young Indian talent Armaan Ebrahim made a good account, recording the fastest lap in the first session of the test before settling for the seventh quickest time of the day. Armaan and F2 driver Parthiva Sureshwaren impressed finishing 7th and 8th, ahead of HRT's Formula One driver Vitantonio Luizzi of Italy.
Karun Chandhok is pleased the organisers have come up with this concept which would allow young Indian talents to gain valuable experience racing against great F1 drivers, an opportunity he never got as a youngster.
"I feel very happy to be here to support a great new initiative for Indian motorsport. I think everyone is aware how passionately I feel about being an ambassador for the sport in our country and I welcome any new programs that help develop the sport," said Karun.
"The important thing here is that the organisers are not trying to mould i1 into a rival event to formula racing series like GP2 or F2 or even JK Racing Asia series. They are out to carve their own niche and the concept as you know is novel to racing. Most importantly it affords the youngsters from India to develop and learn and I'm happy to be part of it," added Karun.
Frentzen, the fastest driver of the day, is expecting a close championship.
"The lap times were so close today so it means we are in for a really close championship. The car feels good, grip levels were really high and it was easy to adapt to the car. I think what the organizers are doing is great so I look forward to the inaugural season."
The first race of the i1 series will be held at Sepang Circuit in Malaysia on January 22 next year before rounds at Sakhir, Bahrain (February 3-4); Losail, Qatar (February 10-11) and Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida (February 25-26). The season finale will be held at Yas Marina on March 9 and 10.
Pre-season test results: 1. Heinz-Harald Frentzen (1:00:505), 2. Giancarlo Fisichella (1:00:557), 3. Karun Chandhok (1:00:660), 4. Jean Alesi (1:00:688), 5. Matthias Lauda (1:00:688), 6. Neel Jani (1:00:695), 7. Armaan Ebrahim (1:00:840), 8. Parthiva Sureshwaren (1:00:853), 9. Vitantonio Liuzzi (1:00:868), 10. Alex Yoong (1:01:191), 11. Sakon Yamamoto (1:01:374), 12. Zaamin Jaffer (1:01:153), 13. Aditya Patel (1:01:258), 14. Mika Salo (1:01:784), 15. Raj Bharath (1:01:925), 16. Ashwin Sundar (1:02:153), 17. Akhil Khushlani (1:02:399), 18. Vishnu Prasad (1:02:509), 19. Sailesh Bolisetti (1:02:584), 20. Ameya Walwalkar (1:02:665), 21. Cyndie Allemann (1:02:753), 22. Abdul Ahmed (1:02:781), 23. Gaurav Dalal (1:02:787), 24. Chirag Malhotra (1:03:113), 25. Amittrajit Ghosh (1:03:849), 26. Phiroze Billmoria (1:04:165).