Montoya was the fastest race driver with Raikkonen

Istanbul: Narain Karthikeyan got a taste of the track at Istanbul Park when the wail of Formula One engines echoed around Istanbul’s new circuit for the first time on Friday.

Gearbox problems put the brakes on the Indian as he finished 22nd and 24th in the two practice sessions held.

After clocking 1: 32.886 seconds to cover the 5.340-km track at the Istanbul Speed Park in the morning, Narain, battling a gearbox problem, cut down some two seconds but still finished 24th in the second session.

“I was slowed down by a gearbox problem and did not want to push too hard. However, I completed 24 laps between this morning and this afternoon. The track is quite dusty and slippery,” Karthikeyan said.

In both sessions, Narain came home behind his teammates.

Tiago Monteiro (1:32.147) and Denmark’s Nicolas Keisa (1:32.501) finished 20th and 21st, respectively, in the first session.

In the afternoon, Monteiro again finished 20th (1:30.626), but Kiesa slipped to 23rd (1:30.884).

Meanwhile, Toyota and Brazilian test driver Ricardo Zonta achieved the fastest lap (1:25.583) of the day in the afternoon, but McLaren filled the next three slots.

Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya and Finland’s Kimi Raikkonen were the quickest race drivers.

McLaren’s Spanish tester Pedro de la Rosa was top of the timesheets in the morning and second in the afternoon.

Zonta’s fastest lap was 1:25.583, with De la Rosa 0.613 slower.

Alonso was seventh in both sessions.

World champion Michael Schumacher finished 13th in 1:28.293, while in the morning he was eighth in 1:29.766.