Paul Ricard, France, March 13th 2008: India’s Karun Chandhok was in top form in the final GP2 Series tests at the Paul Ricard circuit this week, topping the times on the opening day and finishing fourth in the second.

The 24-year-old from Chennai, who is backed by Red Bull, JK Tyre, Amaron and ICSA Logistics, had suffered a trying time in the previous two test sessions with his new iSport International car, as numerous technical issues had hindered his track time.

Karun (R), his team mate Bruno Senna (L) & iSport boss Paul Jackson (C)

“It was a big relief to have a problem-free couple of test days at last,” said Karun. “I always believed that I would be on the pace when we had ironed out these teething problems, and I finally got to prove it. The team and I have really been working hard to fix the problems and it was nice to finally get down to working on setup changes. My engineer Richard Selwin and I worked through a good program which has given us a better understanding of the new car for the main series. Bruno ( Senna, team-mate ) and I have also established a good relationship and this I think is helping us as a team.”

Despite tricky weather conditions, due to high winds, Chandhok lapped the Paul Ricard circuit in 1m12.717s on Wednesday. He ended the day nearly a tenth of a second clear of Piquet Sports driver Pastor Maldonado with the current GP2 Asia series leader Romain Grosjean in third.

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