Karun Chandhok wins the First Round of Formula Asia 2001
with Asif at second position, Team India JK Tyre sweeps the top positions.

New Delhi : Karun Chandhok, India's youngest National Racing Champion, today did his country proud by winning both the races at the first round of Formula Asia 2001, concluded on Sunday,April 8, 2001 at Subic Bay, Philippines. With this feat, this 17-year-old young motorsport whizkid has also become the youngest indian to win an international racing event. It was Team India JK Tyre which dazzled Asia's best racers, with its two members leaving all others gasping for breath. While Karun claimed the top honors and currently leads the Championship with a total point tally of 42, Asif Nazir, another proud member of the team and also India's first-ever JK Tyre National Karting Champion, drove brilliantly to find himself at second position,with a total points tally of 27 points.

The First Race : Starting at pole position, after his spectacular performance at the qualifying rounds held yesterday, Karun lead the first race from start to finish. By lap 3, Karun had a 2 seconds lead but by lap 5, developed some brake problems and Asif, closely following him, immediately closed the gap. The gap got even closer when Karun, trying to compensate for the brake problem, pushed a little harder and went a little wide into the Chicane. But with some superb car control, he held on and opened a 2second gap again to finish comfortably in the first place. Karun also registered the fastest lap time of 1 minute & 20.86 seconds.

Asif Nazir, too, drove brilliantly without making any mistakes and really put the pressure on Karun during the middle path of the race.

Kaushek Harita, another Team India JK Tyre member, started third and got passed by Dennis Lian into the 4th corner, which was a hairpin under braking. But this new JK Tyre discovery maintainedhis cool as well as his control over the following cars and finished a credible fourth. Narain Sathyanarayanan, the fourth starof Team India JK Tyre, made some brilliant move to move up from 8th to 5th position. Unfortunately, his front suspensioncollapsed in lap 9 and he was forced to retire.

Results after Race 1

Karun Chandok	Team India JK Tyre	First
Asif Nazir	Team India JK Tyre	Second
Dennis Lian		Third

The Second Race : Karun once again finished first and displayed superbly controlled drive from start to finish, putting Team India JK Tyre into a clear lead. Asif Nazir too drove brilliantly to finish 3rd. Asif lost one place to Dennis Lian in the 1st lap but gave a phenomenal drive at last three laps and actually passed Dennis in the hairpin in the last lap. Unfortunately, he could notfind 2nd and got passed by Dennis again. Narain & Kaushek also drove brilliantly to finish 5th and 7th respectively.

Results after Race 2

Karun Chandok	Team India JK Tyre	First
Dennis Lian	Team India JK Tyre	Second
Asif Nazir Team		Third

Karun leads the championship with 42 points and Asif is in second place with 27 points. Team India JK Tyre also leads the Constructors Championship with 40 points.

It was a proud moment to see the Indian flag flying high for the Indian fans assembled there - thanks to these young whizkids and the team management. Patrick Roberts, the team Chief Engineer, also worked hard to ensure that all cars ran with a brilliant set up. Patrick, if it may be remembered, has been the 'chiefdesigner' behind successes of other Indian motorsport veterans including Akbar Ebrahim, Narain Karthikeyan & Parthiva Sureshwaren.

The second round of Formula Asia 2001 is scheduled for May 20, 2001 at Johor Track, Malaysia.