Chandhok finishes 7th in LMP2 class at the 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans

Suffering from technical problems during the first stint of the race lone Indian driver on the grid Karun Chandhok and his team Murphy Prototypes put in a stellar performance to drive from second last place to finish seventh in the LMP2 category.

The team and its three drivers Brendon Hartley, Mark Patterson, and Karun Chandhok lost five laps in the first few hours and later on Mark Patterson spun off the gravel, resulting in them going down to second last place in their category and 37th overall. A problem with a faulty sensor initially led to an early scheduled pitstop, while Brendon Hartley was at the wheel. The second pitstop followed when Patterson had a bit of a spin into the gravel, and his luck only got worse when he got punted into accident debris by a GT Porsche behind him.

Patterson’s second incident held up the car at the end of the pitlane before Karun could go out for his first stint.  However he managed catching up with the Lotuses ahead moving up the grid with some competitive pace before he could handover the car back to Patterson.  

On the initial stint, Karun said “We lost 5 laps in the first 3 hours which was a shame. We had to change the ECU twice and then Mark unfortunately went off. This dropped us to second last in class and 37th overall.” When Hartley and Chandhok went out for their second stints the team made immense progress as both drivers put in their best to cover up for the lost out places and they lapped the fastest times in their category."

On his overall performance and the outcome Chandok commented saying “We were quick which made it more irritating. At night I was quickest on the track in the wet and dry and Brendon was fastest on track this morning. We dragged ourselves back up to 7th in class and 13th overall from nowhere”.  

In the LMP2 category, the Oak Racing team achieved a double podium with the Morgan Nissan driven by Bertrand Baguette, Martin Plowman and Ricardo Gonzalez winning the race.

In 2012, Chandhok had raced in the LMP1 category along with David Brabham and Peter Dumbreck for JRM Racing team, and made history by becoming the first Indian ever to drive the iconic endurance race. Nevertheless to add to it he and his team had finished sixth in the LMP1 category and overall.