Valencia: Narain Karthikeyan didn't have his best outing in qualifying.
The Hispania Racing driver, who qualified 24th and last on the grid, told ibnlive.com that a combination of mechanical problems and weather had played a part in the car not being upto the pace on Saturday.
"We had gearbox problems in free practice 2 on Friday. I just couldn't put enough laps. My run on Friday was cut short by 30 laps," Narain said in an exclusive interview.
The Indian driver, who has never raced on the Valencia circuit before, said that though it's not a difficult circuit, there's a lot of sea sand coming in on the circuit that makes it very slippery.
"The sand is very fine and makes the car low on grip. You miss the apex by some inches and it costs you a lot of time. Since our cars have been having traction issues, it doesn't suit us well, especially when the weather is hot, like here," he added.
Despite the gearbox problem and grip issues, Narain said he was happy with his performance.
"It was one of the circuits where I thought 107 per cent was difficult but we are way inside that target time," he said. Narain said his car would have a new gearbox for the race which should last for the next 5 races.
About the race on Sunday, he said that finishing the race and getting some more mileage was his target.
"After Canada, we thought we would be close to Virgins. But that's not the case. Timo Glock seems to have found a lot of pace," he said.
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