A wet morning at Silverstone.

The young Indian, currently competing in the Japanese Formula Nippon series, was the slowest of the runners who set a time, but with a constant drizzle and strong winds blowing across the track, his best time was quite respectable, just two seconds off Jordan's racing veteran, Jean Alesi.

Karthikeyan, in just his second outing in a Formula One car, spent his 49 laps familiarising himself with the EJ11, in quite difficult track conditions. "I had a good run, even though the track was a bit greasy because of the wet weather, and I enjoyed myself. I thank Jordan for giving me the opportunity to discover what it's like to work with a Formula One team."

Narain spins, but no harm done.

He continued, "I was happy with the way I drove, although it would have been better if it was dry. Everything in F1 is so different from any other category and it impressed me in every way. In the Formula Nippon Championship I drive a 600bhp car, so the Honda engine clearly made an impression, but I also found the brakes and aerodynamic package to be remarkable. It was strange to drive with all the stars of Formula One and of course Jean is the master in these conditions, I enjoyed every bit of it!
Hopefully I will have the opportunity to be the first Indian Formula One driver in the next couple of years."

Unfortunately, the morning didn't go completely without a hitch for the former British Formula 3 race winner. Just before lunch Karthikeyan spun his EJ11 at Club, stalling his car in the gravel.
""We changed the brake bias a little bit," he told Autosport.com. ""I locked up the rears. It was a very slow spin but I couldn't save the engine, so I lost my first run on intermediates."

There were five teams at Silverstone � Jordan, McLaren, BAR, Jaguar and Benetton � and it was Alesi who topped the timesheets with a time of 1:34.03. He spent the day on wet weather work, reliability checks and general set-up evaluation in preparation for the final races of the season. A small sensor problem in the morning was easily put right by the team over lunch and Alesi completed 85 laps.

Karthikeyan is having his first run in a Jordan today (Tuesday), while newly crowned Formula 3000 champion Wilson will take over for tomorrow and Thursday.
When asked if he saw the Silverstone test as a straight head-to-head performance gauge to Wilson, Karthikeyan said, "No, I don't think so. We are two different individuals and the track conditions will not be the same tomorrow. If it's dry then he'll go a lot quicker. You can only compare if you both run on the same day."

Times from Silverstone - 18th September
Driver	Team	Tyre	Time	Laps
Alesi	Jordan	B	1'37"030	85
Wurz	McLaren	B	1'34"180	58
Button	Benetton	M	1'34"670	30
Irvine	Jaguar	M	1'34"820	49
Webber	Benetton	M	1'34"990	17
Panis	BAR	B	1'35"090	40
de la Rosa	Jaguar	M	1'35"270	47
Karthikeyan	Jordan	B	1'36"020	53