Gearbox problems plague Karun''s weekend at Monaco

New Delhi: India''s Karun Chandhok''s race weekend was ruined by a series of gearbox problems, in the qualifying round and then in the races, resulting in a non-finish in the third round of the 2005 ''World Series'' at the prestigious Monaco circuit.

Chandhok was competing on the same weekend as his senior colleague Narain Karthikeyan.

As soon as 21-year old Chandhok from Chennai drove out of the pits in the qualifying round a problem arose in his gearbox which didn''t allow him to use sixth gear.

Karun says, "I drove out of the pits and was going up the gears but the gearbox didn''t respond. It was something that we couldn''t fix during the session and after the first couple of laps; I had problems with the fifth gear as well. It was like driving on the highway in third gear while everyone else is flying past in fifth!" This left him in 23rd place.

The race was scheduled for 25 laps, just before the Formula 1 Grand Prix on Sunday morning. Karun made a stormy start and overtook three cars off the line before pulling off a bold move around the outside of the French driver Patrick Pilet and by half way around the first lap, he was up five places. As the RC Motor sport car came onto the start finish straight to start lap 2 however, the gearbox failed once again, forcing Karun into retirement after just one lap.

Karun who is backed by JK Tyre, the Tata group and Ucal Mikuni has his next race at the Valencia circuit in Spain in two weeks time. "Valencia is where our season has to start. I so wanted to have a good weekend here in Monaco but it was not to be. The important thing is to take this disappointment on the chin and keep going and I do hope that people back home will be patient and realise that instant results are not easy to come by in this sport."