Sunday: both HRT cars at the finish
The HRT drivers were able to take part in their first race of the season this afternoon in Malaysia, and the outcome of the race was favorable for the Spanish team. Narain Karthikeyan temporarily held 7th place in the standings before finally finishing in 21st position. Pedro de la Rosa also saw the checkered flag, with the Spanish veteran finishing in 22nd place behind his teammate.
Narain Karthikeyan – 21st
«It was a really interesting race in rainy conditions. We were in 10th position for a while, which I think was the best position we’ve ever been in, but unfortunately the rain stopped and the track dried, making it impossible to stay ahead of the others. I made a mistake, locking the front and running wide at turn 9, but apart from that, everything went well. We finished the race, covered many kilometers, and gained two places from the 23rd position on the grid, so it’s something we should be happy about. Everyone did a great job, and we are really happy with this result. Now we need to build from here and try to improve in China.»
Pedro de la Rosa – 22nd
I must say I really enjoyed this race. It was the best race to make my debut with HRT. I don’t think anyone could have imagined that we would reach the finish after starting from the pit lane due to a fuel pressure issue we’ve been dealing with since yesterday. I was penalized with a drive-through, and we made our first real pit stop… to sum up, a lot of things happened, but in the end, the car really held up well for our debut. We have a lot to improve, but it was a successful test. My teammate also finished, so it’s a double satisfaction. I am really very happy for the team; we achieved our goal. Now, we have to go a little further.
Luis Pérez-Sala – Team Principal
Yesterday after qualifying, we were satisfied, and today, fortunately, we are again. We have reached a new goal, which was to finish the race with both our cars. There are areas where we need to improve, undoubtedly, such as the reliability or speed of the car, but by finishing this race, we have accumulated a tremendous amount of data which will be a great help for progress. We also need to improve our pit stops and team coordination, but it was our first time, and between the first and second stop, you could already see a difference. Today, I want to emphasize the work done by everyone and thank them for the efforts made over the past weeks, and today’s result is a small reward for this massive workload.
