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Collision forces Karthikeyan out of race

Narain Karthikeyan, who had qualified his Kingfisher Mobil TATA Dallara on the third row of the grid for Sunday's 13th race in the British Formula 3 Championship in 5th place, retired from the race on the 10th lap with deranged suspension.

The start for India's star Formula driver went well and he held position into the first bend, the notorious Redgate corner. He wasted no time in making his challenge on Toby Scheckter, son of Ferrari F1 Champion Jody, who left the door wide open at the final hairpin on the first lap. Narain launched his car down on the inside line only to find that Scheckter closed the opening without any warning and smashed his car into Narain's left front wheel.

This contact effectively ruined any chance that Karthikeyan had of reaching the podium at Donington. To add insult to injury, Martin O'Connell also smacked into Narain's Dallara from the rear, dropping him down to 12th position on the track.

Whilst Marc Hynes, Jenson Button and Jackie Stewart's Luciano Burti raced in their original grid formation of 1st, 2nd and 3rd, Karthikeyan attempted to bring his car home but the damage to the front track rods was so severe that the understeering car simply developed worse problems as the front tyres deteriorated.

On lap 10, Narain sensibly decided to retire his car from the race, realising that there was nothing to be gained from continuing.

The race held few other surprises with the first four drivers finishing in their original grid positions, with Kirkaldy inheriting Karthikeyan's fifth position and Kolby recovering from 9th on the grid to 6th.

The series moves on to the infamous Spa Francorchamp round in Belgium in 3 weeks time - scene of the recent Formula 1 race.

Narain Karthikeyan is taking time out to visit family, friends and sponsors back in India for two weeks and to recharge his batteries for the final races of the British Formula 3 Championship.