Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans, France, 14 June 2009

The 77th running of the Le Mans 24 Hour Race is a race weekend that Narain Karthikeyan will never forget his whole life. It started so promisingly with consistently strong performances in practice & qualifying. Narain was scheduled to do the opening double-stint of the race, starting on Saturday at 3 pm local time, but 10 minutes before the start of the formation lap, after the warm up & sighting laps were done, disaster struck.

Narain climbed over the pit-wall to visit the rest-room, a task which all drivers undertake just before the start of every race, when he slipped and fell off the pit-wall dislocating his left shoulder. “The pit-wall was quite high due to safety reasons, and what can I say, I must be the unluckiest driver in the history of Le Mans! Ce la vie.”

Immediately after the incident, Narain was attended to by the Audi doctor, who re-located the shoulder joint and put his arm in a sling. He was advised to rest the shoulder completely for a minimum period of 10 days. After a few hours, Narain felt that the pain was subsiding, and he may be able to drive the next morning. He returned to his hotel to rest the shoulder and get a good nights’ sleep, before hopefully doing some serious racing on Sunday morning. This morning, although the pain is still quite considerable, Narain was absolutely adamant that he wanted to race, but unfortunately the official doctor at the circuit has not given him the medical clearance to race, and the doctors’ word is final.

To say that Narain is disappointed would be a huge under-statement. He said, “I was so pumped up to do this race. The Le Mans circuit is such an incredible track. Our No.14 Kolles Audi R10 TDi is a fantastically designed and prepared car. I have been training so hard, and all the team has been working flat out for so many weeks just for this weekend. To get injured minutes before the start of the race, on the grid, is the most frustrating experience of my racing career. However, I have to now focus on my physiotherapy and recovery so that I can be 100% fit for the next race of the Le Mans Series which will be at the Algarve Circuit in Portugal, a track I know quite well, as I raced there recently in A1GP. I can’t say enough about the outstanding job my team-mates Andre Lotterer & Charles Zwolsman have done. To do a 24 hour race with just one other driver is a feat which no driver has done for many years. On top of that, to finish 7th overall is a truly outstanding achievement. I would definitely like to return to Le Mans in 2010 and for many years after that. The atmosphere here is so amazing, it’s like the biggest race and party of the year, all rolled up into one. It’s hard to imagine what a crowd of 250,000 would be like until you see it with your own eyes. For any true racing fan, it has to be the event of the year, and one that must be attended at least once in a lifetime.”

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