Saturday, July 2 2005 10:54 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Magny-Cours (France): India's Narain Karthikeyan drove cautiously for a smooth beginning to the French Grand Prix finishing 20th and 19th in the practice sessions as Mclarens-Mercedes Pedro de la Rosa remained the fasted on the circuit in France, yesterday (July 1, 2005).

Karthikeyan clocked 1 minute 20.067 seconds and 1:17.790 ending up behind Jordan test driver Robert Doornbos, who was driving the new EJ15B that had, more potential. His teammate Tiago Monteiro, who damaged his rear suspension in the first session, was 23rd in the two practices.

"I had a normal opening day today, I was cautious on this track as I know it well. I was checking the car reactions carefully and the team worked on the different car set-ups to adapt to the changing track. Everything is looking good for tomorrow's qualifying," Karthikeyan said yesterday.

The 28-year-old Jordan driver, who suffered consecutive crashes in previous races, said he was working especially on the car set-up, Bridgestone tyre comparison on the already familiar track.

"Of course, there are some little teething problems but generally it looked better. We are quite please with the work we have done today and we will now see how it goes," he said.

Jordan Sporting Director (JDS) Adrian Burgess said, "We did not have a bad start but it was not a perfect start either." De la Rosa covered the 73-lap practise first 1:14.778 seconds and 1:14.460. His team mate Juan Pablo Montoya (1:15.129) and Ferrari's Michael Schumacher (1:15.204) finished second and third respectively.