Karun Chandhok qualifies 7th in LMP2 for 24 Hours Le Mans race

Indian racing driver Karun Chandhok and his team Murphy Prototypes qualified to a 7th position in the LMP2 category of the 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans challenge. The team will start 15th in the overall category. In the qualifying which took place on Thursday at the La Sarthe circuit, Murphy Prototypes team entered in the first session and the third session, as they did not venture out in the second session due to the wet track conditions.

On the qualifying performance Karun commented saying “The morning session was a complete washout and it made no sense to do any laps. With the weather and so many red flags I could not get any running today but will be back in the car for warm-up tomorrow. We are starting in a reasonably good position and will have to push very hard to get a good result.”

Karun will be driving the LMP2 Nissan V8-powered Oreca 03 along with Brendon Hartley and Mark Patterson. Team Principal and owner, Greg Murphy seemed a little disappointed with the qualifying but looked forward to the challenge ahead and said, “We had a lot more pace in the car, than we showed today. But seventh position, I think Starworks when they won it last year started in 11th, so we’re reasonable happy, 24 hours to go, we’re here to fight and we’re here to win so I think we have some good speed in the car. We had a problem with all the red flags and stuff, we didn’t get a rhythm, and I feel a little bit for Karun he had very little running, but he’s such a good driver it’s not going to be a problem.”

Karun drove in the first session at night and Brendon Hartley got some meaningful running on the car in the third session. Hartley had started out on a fresh set of tyres during qualifying and came out feeling positive about the seventh position. According to Karun despite his experience the conditions are a lot more unpredictable this year, and one cannot anticipate a definite outcome as of now. He had raced with JRM racing team last year,  in the LMP1 category where he finished 6th overall. 

However on racing for the first time in the LMP2 category, Karun said “Last year I was here with JRM in the LMP1 class, but the problem in LMP1 is that only the two manufacturer teams Audi and Toyota have a chance of winning. A privateer has no chance under the current regulations. In LMP2, you have a real chance of fighting for a class victory as every team is a privateer outfit.”

He added saying, “Its been interesting for me to drive the LMP2 car this year – the speed in the corners is pretty much the same as the LMP1 car and some times even faster as they are lighter, but the straight line speeds are a bit less.” Regarded as the Triple Crown of Motorsport, the 24 Hours of Le Mans this year marks the 90th anniversary of the iconic race.  The race which starts on June 22, 2013 is a leg of the World Endurance Championships and will be fielding 166 drivers with Karun Chandhok being the only Indian in the race."