Would you welcome... Karun Chandhok to IndyCar?

[Darth Airbox]

“The money you need to go to Formula 1 these days is almost an impossibility, and so I'm looking at IndyCar,” he said. “I was open to the idea last year, actually, and spoke with a couple of teams. Right now, it's a question of time to get the sponsors in place, and possibly dipping my toe in the water by putting together a road course program and the Indy 500.”

http://www.racer.com/ex-f1-driver-chandhok-exploring-indycar-options/article/315610/

[gottastayfly]

this article has been up since early afternoon, and no one has posted it until now because 1) he sucks 2)

(not meant as an attack to the original poster)

[DanFan]

I would. If for nothing else, to see if he really is any good. Its very hard to tell in Europe when money essentially determines your ride.

[neti1]

What's not to like? He's a decent racer and would be, I believe, IndyCar's first Indian driver.

[Mikemat5150]

I think he should get a shot. Did some F1 and has raced sports cars since.

[neti1]

deleted due to misquote

[neti1]

I would. If for nothing else, to see if he really is any good. Its very hard to tell in Europe when money essentially determines your ride.

Money and talent, please.

There are so many talented young racers competing to get rides in European ladder series, that teams can demand $$ without having to worry about losing out on talent. In other words, for every talented driver there is another equally talented, who also brings sponsorship.

[D Byrd]

yes. since F1 has moved on from the Buddh International Circuit in Delhi, the presence of Karun in the series could lead to IndyCar including a race in India as part of its wintertime international series.

[lizardfolk]

I would rather Karun over Karthikeyan. Although Karthikeyan did prove he had some worth in Auto GP with his marvelous end of season performance. Anyone who's watched it can see Karthy was one of the fastest if not the fastest of the field.

[Hitokiri]

Chandok is without a doubt better then his other Indian counterpart Kart-The-Chaos but despite his confidence in the article I don't think he would do that well. If he wants to come over that's up to him and the teams but these days Indycar seems to be looking domestically for talent. Plus there are already experienced ride buyers in Indycar such as Jakes and Viso. I can't see how Chandok or any other European could get in unless their bringing lots and lots of money.

[lizardfolk]

Chandok is without a doubt better then his other Indian counterpart Kart-The-Chaos but despite his confidence in the article I don't think he would do that well. If he wants to come over that's up to him and the teams but these days Indycar seems to be looking domestically for talent. Plus there are already experienced ride buyers in Indycar such as Jakes and Viso. I can't see how Chandok or any other European could get in unless their bringing lots and lots of money.

Or they impress with outright pace like Filippi

You never know. Ho-Pin Tung was a random experiment. That failed sure, but the fact that he was there and he got a few races to test out his craft because of impressive practice pace shows that IndyCar is not really that biased in terms of talent and where they are from.

IMO that's a good thing. Let Karun come over. If he does worse than the Indy Lights rookies then he should be out

[b000]

Only with Karthikeyan with TATA money and a "Team India."

[Butters]

Or TATA as third manufacturer. 65hp two stroke engine, but only 2000US$.

[Rod]

Chandhok is hopeless. He was given a race for Caterham at the Nurburgring and spun at half the corners on the track and was so good they never used him again. The only reason he gets all the publicity he does is because he's mates with a lot of members of the UK motorsport press.

[lizardfolk]

Chandhok is hopeless. He was given a race for Caterham at the Nurburgring and spun at half the corners on the track and was so good they never used him again. The only reason he gets all the publicity he does is because he's mates with a lot of members of the UK motorsport press.

Or the fact that he outpaced Bruno Senna in the HRT

In GP2 at Istanbul Chandhok also has the fastest lap of that year with a 1:36.679. Just an FYI Luca Filippi was in that race as well and if Chandhok was faster than Filippi (who eventually finished 2nd)... imagine what he could do in an IndyCar since Luca was almost there to get a podium at Houston Race 1.

Food for thought food for thought.

Chandhok is what I'd like to call... a completely undeveloped driver. He has some occasional flashes of talent that just gets buried with inexperience. If he has a good rookie season I think he might prove a lot of his doubters here wrong.

We'll see. Chandhok seems like he's just testing interest with this annoucement. But maybe he and Narain can come together and form an Indian IndyCar team... rolls right off the tongue I'd also think IndyCar would be pretty good at the Buddh circuit!