Karun Chandhok finishes in 6th place at the 24 Hours of Le Mans

Participating in his first ever 24 Hours of Le Mans race, Indian ex-Formula One driver and Formula Asia Champion Karun Chandhok became the first Indian driver ever to complete the historic endurance battle in a respectable 6th place.

Chandhok along with his JRM team drivers David Brabham and Peter Dumbreck fielded a Honda HPD ARX-03a in the top LMP1 class and delivered solid performances amidst 400,000 fans, who attended the week long motorsport event. Starting in 11th position on the grid, former Le Mans winner David Brabham gave the JRM Team a fantastic start and immediately gained a place and managed to hold on to his 10th position before handing the Honda over to Karun Chandhok just after 17:00. 

Wasting no time Karun quickly stepped on the gas and maintained a consistent pace earning two places for the team, taking them from P10 to P8 by the end of his first 3 hour long (quadruple) stint. He then handed the car over to Peter Dumbreck, who drove skillfully and moved up to sixth place during his run. However on lap 114, Peter had a tyre failure coming through the Dunlop Curves and went off into the gravel. The Scot driver pushed hard for almost the entire lap with a puncture and the delay dropped them back to 17th overall. 

With little to lose and much to gain Peter, who took over the wheel began charging ahead ploughed through the LMP2 cars to finish 9th overall before he passed on the baton to Karun Chandhok on lap 158. Karun moved further up the order to 8th place and was determined to go past #44 Starworks car for 7th overall, when he was pushed into the garage for a problem with the Honda’s clutch. He rejoined in 12th overall, but once again drove with genuine pace and perseverance only to bring the car back to the team pits in 9th position before handing over proceedings to Peter just before dawn.

Peter and David then alternatively put in great performances and had the team securely in the sixth spot before handing the Honda back to Karun for another quadruple stint. Peter finally managed to conclude the race for the JRM team in the identical sixth place amidst frenzied celebrations on the team’s pit wall.