Photo : D.R. - Murphy Prototypes

 

In 2012, Karun Chandhok became the first Indian to start at the 24 Hours of Le Mans (Narain Karthikeyan was on the entry list, but was unable to start the race after having injured himself on the starting grid at Le Mans) and remains the sole to this day. That year, he shared the wheel of the LM P1 HPD ARX-03a - Honda of JRM with Peter Dumbreck and David Brabham - 2009 winner of the 24 Hours - who crossed the finish line in sixth place overall.

This year, the driver native of Madras (Chennai), will take the wheel of the Oreca 03 - Nissan of Murphy Prototypes with which he finished in 12th place overall in 2013 at the Le Mans classic. "I am very excited to head back to Le Mans for a third time. It's such a hard event to do with over 5,000 kilometers of racing through the night but the satisfaction of doing well there in front of such a huge crowd is tremendous. Sportscar racing is clearly on the rise with more manufacturers entering Le Mans than any other championship in the World. There are a lot of guys who raced in F1 like me coming over to Sportscar racing like Mark Webber, Bruno Senna, Giancarlo Fisichella, Sebastien Buemi and Anthony Davidson. It will be good to return to Le Mans with the Irish team Murphy Prototypes as we raced together last year and were very competitive but unlucky. We know what we have to do to get the maximum from the car, but we need a bit of luck as well, and hopefully the luck of the Irish will be with us!"

Twice at the finish in two participations: the only thing missing is a podium finish for Karun Chandhok. This year? The Indian driver will already have a chance to do well at the 4 Hours of Silverstone next Saturday. Brendon Hartley having left for Porsche, Karun Chandhok will go to support Tor Graves and Rodolfo Gonzalez.

Cécile Bonardel / ACO (quote from Karun Chandhok website) - Translation by Nikki Ehrhardt / ACO

PHOTO: LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), DOWNTOWN, 24 HOURS OF LE MANS, FRIDAY JUNE 21 2013, DRIVERS' PARADE. Karun Chandhol will once again be able to experience the huge crowds during the Grand Drivers' Parade at the 2014 24 Hours of Le Mans.