by Russell Atkins

TO LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW IN FULL: CLICK HERE

Karun Chandhok has pointed to the GP2 Series this year as being the 'most competitive ever', as he eyes a strong weekend in Istanbul in a bid to banish the memories of last August when he was 'Kazuki'd' out of contention.

The Indian ace stole the final point for Durango in the opening race in Turkey in 2007, from all the way down in 21st on the starting grid, and went on to lead the first half of race two until he was unceremoniously bundled out of the way by DAMS rival – and now Williams F1 star – Kazuki Nakajima. Eight-and-a-half months on, he is keen for payback.

“I'm definitely going there to try and get podiums,” the 24-year-old asserted, speaking exclusively to Crash.net Radio. “I really enjoy the Istanbul circuit; I think everybody does – it's a mega track.

“I feel I was robbed of a win there last year – I was on-course to take the win that day 'til I got Kazuki'd! I think if we can carry on from where we left off, then yeah, we can definitely fight for podiums there.”

The man from Madras also sought to underline that GP2 this season is the most hotly-contested since the series' inception back in 2005, with the all-new car for 2008 presenting both drivers and teams with an additional challenge – albeit one he is clearly relishing.

“The drivers and teams have got to get used to the new car,” he acknowledged. “Both need to get their heads around it. Aerodynamically it's a big step forward, but mechanically – though it's completely different – I don't actually think it's a step forward from the old one.

“It's more physical to drive – the steering is a lot heavier and obviously has 15 per cent more downforce. It's quicker – we're definitely between seven tenths to a second a lap quicker than last year – and especially when we go to Monaco this year, we'll have the super-soft tyres like the F1 cars and I think we should be within two or three seconds of Formula 1. That'll be pretty impressive.

“If you look at GP2 this year, I think it's going to be the most competitive ever. I'm not just saying that because I'm in it, because if you look back to the first year it was Nico [Rosberg], Heikki [Kovalainen] and pretty much nobody else – ok, Alex Prémat won a few races here, there and elsewhere and Adam [Carroll] won a few races – then in the second year it was Lewis [Hamilton], Nelson [Piquet] and Timo [Glock] in the second half when he switched to iSport, and that was it, and then last year it was pretty much Timo versus Timo. Every time he made a mistake [Lucas] di Grassi won one, but otherwise it was Timo, di Grassi and [Andreas] Zuber in a class of their own really.