HRT finally take to the track

HRT have introduced their 2012 challenger with Narain Karthikeyan giving the F112 a run out at Barcelona on Monday.

Karthikeyan insists F112 is step up from 2011 model

HRT have introduced their 2012 challenger with Narain Karthikeyan giving the F112 a run out at Barcelona. Having failed to make it to last week's final round of pre-season testing, the team were in danger of heading to the opening race in Australia without any meaningful track time. However, the Spanish team managed to put ten laps under their belt at the Circuit de Catalunya after they took advantage of one of the filming days available during the season. And Karthikeyan is pleased with the new challenger, insisting that the F112 is a definite improvement on previous models. "Today was a shakedown of the F112 and I have had the honour to be the first driver to test it. The first impressions are quite good; it's definitely a step up from last year," he said. "We couldn't do any set-up work or stuff like that but everything seems to be working fine and there are no major problems so we can look forward to the season now. "Everyone has worked hard and the new team management has put everything together in a very short period of time. They've done a proper job with the car and I'm sure that it's a big step forward from last year, so hopefully we can take the competition to the teams we were fighting last year". Team principal Luis Perez-Sala paid tribute to the hard work done by the team to get the car on track. "Today I am very satisfied and is a very important day for us because we have done some testing with the new car during this promotional time," he said. "I am very proud of each and every one of the members of this team because all have contributed their bit to make this possible. Now we must focus on Australia because we still have much to do." Although Pedro de la Rosa did not get behind the wheel at Barcelona he was still pleased with what he saw. "Today has been a very special day because the car saw the light for the first time; Narain did some installation laps and then various times laps without any issues." De la Rosa added: "Any sort of mileage before Australia is vital to see that the car is in good condition. From here it is our job to try and improve it and make it progress". Related Galleries:
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