In his first column for Crash.net, GP2 front-runner and Red Bull junior programme star Karun Chandhok reflects on a frustrating inaugural GP2 Asia Series campaign, and looks ahead to what he anticipates being the busiest season of his career over the remainder of 2008…
Being made a member of the Red Bull junior programme has made our association stronger. Red Bull have really been awesome to me since the start of our partnership. They were pleased with what I did in the
F1 car at Barcelona in my first test, and I look forward to being a test driver for them again in 2008.
I always said that my ideal scenario for 2008 would be to race with a top GP2 team and test for a good F1 team, and this has worked out well. Helmut Marko, Christian Horner and everyone involved with Red Bull Austria and the F1 team have given their blessing to my deal with iSport International.
After my first F1 test last year I stayed on in Europe until the middle of December for an extended period of negotiation and finalisation of my drive for 2008. Ever since the middle of last year iSport was the most sought-after drive on the grid. I know they had nearly every GP2 driver chasing them for the drive, and for them to have taken up the option to run me was a huge confidence boost.
I enjoyed my time with Durango last year, but when I tested with iSport soon after the last race of the season, right from the first few laps I knew that this was the team I wanted to be with. For a while I was in a fortunate position of having the possibility of running with almost every top team from last year and even got quite some way down the road with a couple of others, but all along it was on the basis that the iSport deal was my prime option.
![GP2 front-runner Karun Chandhok chats to iSport International team-mate Bruno Senna [pic credit: Karun Chandhok]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/429657.jpg)
