NEW DELHI: Indian driver Narain Karthikeyan said yesterday he was uncertain about his Formula One future after his Spanish team, HRT, was put up for sale.
HRT’s owners Thesan Capital had earlier this week said they were in talks with potential buyers for the team, which has yet to win a point in three F1 seasons.
Karthikeyan, preparing with his HRT co-driver Pedro de la Rosa for this weekend’s US Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, said the prospects of a sale had got him worried about his future.
“The plan for me was to stay with HRT for 2013 as it was looking good all along,” the 35-year-old from Chennai was quoted as saying in the Times of India.
“As a team we have been making progress and the design for the 2013 car is reasonably competitive. I was quite sure of everything being in place and thus there was no Plan B.
“But everything has turned on its head in the last 24-48 hours as you can imagine. The solution won’t arrive overnight.
“I may be forced to look beyond F1 now, so looks like it is going to be a very busy off-season,” Karthikeyan told the paper.
Thesan Capital bought HRT in July 2011, but the team has not made an immediate impact, given a limited budget and Cosworth engines that have proved less effective than those of their rivals.
The investment company said it hoped to build on the progress it had made in 2012 and the new owner would be made known in the coming weeks.
Karthikeyan, asked if he would like to see an Indian buy HRT to follow liquor baron Vijay Mallya’s Force India team, said: “It will be great for India and F1 to have a second Indian team.”
India’s Karthikeyan worried over future
India’s Karthikeyan worried over future
Johnson, Castle shine as Spurs rout Thunder 130-110
- The Thunder fell to 26-4 after the loss, while the Spurs improved to 22-7 to stay in second place in the West
- Anthony Edwards rattled in 38 points as the Minnesota Timberwolves took down the New York Knicks 115-104 in Minneapolis
LOS ANGELES: Keldon Johnson and Stephon Castle combined for 49 points as the San Antonio Spurs produced a second-half scoring blitz to rout the NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder 130-110 on Tuesday.
Ten days after eliminating the Thunder from the NBA Cup semifinals, the Spurs once again proved too strong for the Western Conference leaders as they powered to their seventh straight victory in San Antonio.
Starting shooting guard Castle finished with 24 points including four three-pointers but the key contribution came from Johnson, who added 25 off the bench including five threes.
The Thunder fell to 26-4 after the loss, while the Spurs improved to 22-7 to stay in second place in the West.
San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama finished with 12 points while reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder scoring with 33 points.
“It shows how serious we are — we’ve got the same aspirations that they have, we just want to come out and compete every time we play them,” said Castle, who poured in 10 of his 24 points during the fourth quarter in which the Spurs outscored the Thunder 43-28.
The Denver Nuggets meanwhile missed the chance to close the gap on Oklahoma City after losing a thrilling duel 131-130 against the Dallas Mavericks on the road in Texas.
Mavericks prodigy Cooper Flagg once again stole the show, with the gifted 19-year-old No.1 draft pick scoring a game high 33 points with nine rebounds and nine assists.
Flagg’s performance was backed by 31 points from Anthony Davis as Dallas outdueled Nuggets duo Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray, who accounted for 60 Denver points.
The Nuggets almost snatched victory at the buzzer, but Peyton Watson’s wide open three-point attempt bounced out after hitting the rim.
“We’re just coming together, trying to have each other’s backs,” Flagg said. “Obviously Jamal and (Jokic) had it going — so we were just trying to take those guys away and make somebody else beat us.”
Dallas improved to 12-19 while the Nuggets slipped to 21-8 in the West.
Flagg, meanwhile, took encouragement from another hard-fought win by the Mavs, who last week took down the Eastern Conference-leading Detroit Pistons.
“We’re learning from all of these experiences,” Flagg said. “You know we’ve been in a lot of really close games, so just trying to take stuff from those games and learn from it and get better.”
Elsewhere on Tuesday, Anthony Edwards rattled in 38 points as the Minnesota Timberwolves took down the New York Knicks 115-104 in Minneapolis.
Edwards knocked down four three-pointers while teammate Julius Randle added 25 points as the Wolves eclipsed a 40-point performance from Karl-Anthony Towns.
Knicks star Jalen Brunson, who scored 47 points in Sunday’s win over Miami, missed the game with a right ankle problem.
