Karun off to poor GP2 debut;finishes 19th in free practice

Sakhir, Bahrain, Apr 13 (UNI) Karun Chandhok was off to a poor start in his maiden GP2 Series appearence as he finished 19th in a free practice session at the season opener race here today.

Representing Team Durango, Karun clocked a time of 1:43.963 in the 26-driver grid which was topped by Germany's Timo Glock (1:42.223) of Team iSport International.

Luca Filippi of Super Nova International came second with 1:42.847 while Alexandre Negrao of Minardi Piquet Sports was third with a timing of 1:43.021.

Karun struggled for control at times taking a wider lane than necessary.

The promising Indian motor racer, who won the first Asian Formula Renault V6 championship last year, is partnering with Borja Garcia for Durango Racing team in the series which is considered the feeder series for Formula One.

Nine GP2 drivers have made it to Formula One in the last two years.

The season which has kicked off here ends on September 30 in Valencia in Spain with nine races in between including Barcelona (May 11-13), Monaco (May 25-27), Silverstone (July 6-8), Instanbul (August 24-26) and Monza in Iataly (September 24-26).

UNI