Le Mans (France): Karun Chandhok on Sunday became the first Indian to finish the historic Le Mans 24 Hours race, as his JRM Team delivered a superb result by finishing the race in sixth position, here.
Chandhok, along with team-mates David Brabham and Peter Dumbreck delivered faultless performances to finish the race on the team`s very first attempt at one of world`s most prestigious motorsporting event.
"Driving for nine of the last 36 hours and sleeping for four makes for a pretty tiring ratio! I ended up doing the graveyard shift from 2 - 5am, which was very special and exhausting in equal measure. It made me really understand the unique, special nature of this race," Chandhok said.
"Overall a very good race for us and it feels great to be the only Indian to have finished the Le Mans 24hr race. The whole team worked tirelessly and it is a great reward for all their hard work. To finish second amongst the privateer teams is huge so fantastic result all around," he said.
David, the 2009 Le Mans winner, took the start in the team`s Honda HPD ARX-03a LMP1 car and immediately gained a place from the starting slot of 11th.
The Australian set a consistent pace to hold 10th position overall before handing over the car to Karun.
Karun, who made history as the first-ever Indian to compete in the race, had a baptism of fire with an immediate quadruple stint in his car and moved from P10 to P8 by the end of his time in the car.
He then handed over to Peter, who started to exchange positions with the 13 LOLA Rebellion - gaining a position when the latter pitted and losing it when he himself refueled.
Peter later moved up to sixth place when Toyota spent a significant amount of time in the pits.
However on lap 114, Peter had a tyre failure coming through the Dunlop Curves and went off into the gravel. The Scot subsequently had to negotiate almost the entire lap with a puncture, and was pulled into the garage to check for suspension damage. No major damage was found but the delay dropped the #22 back to 17th overall. During the stop David took over from Peter for his second session in the car and the fight to gain positions began.
Peter concluded the race for the JRM Racing amidst frenzied celebrations on the team`s pit.
PTI
First Published: Monday, June 18, 2012, 00:09