When Karthikeyan all but won

India's Formula 3 ace Narain Karthikeyan started his World Cup campaign on pole position.

The first Asian to finish on pole in 47 years, the J K Tyre and AMARON-sponsored driver created history, by notching up Pole position with a lap record of 2 minutes 12.887 seconds (Dallara F300 Mugen), beating the time set in 1999 by current Formula 1 ace and regular in Wialliams BMW, Jenson Button at the Macau Grand Prix. The previous best before that was 2:14.264 seconds, set by Button's fellow country-man Darren Manning in his Tom's Toyota, in the 46th Macau Grand Prix last year.

A win at Macau autimatically qualifies the winner for a super licence in Formula One, the pinnacle of motorsport, while finishing on the podium guarantees an invitaion to a driver's seat in a top Formula 3000 team.

Karthikeyan moved to the top of the time sheets one third of the way through the 45-minute session to knock off impressive rookie Andy Priaulx from the pole. The top spot was then taken by Ryo Fukuda before Karthikeyan snatched it back for good, after 20 minutes.

Karthikeyan was the quickest driver round the Guia circuit for the duration of the Macau Grand Prix meeting. The Indian racer set a stunning pole position time, fastest laps in both races to set a new lap record, and was only denied victory when caught out by the track's notorious bumps.

In the 47th running of the Grand Prix, which attracts the very best Formula Three racers from across the globe, Karthikeyan was re-united with the Carlin Motorsport team for whom he won races in the British Formula Three Championship in 1999. Teamed with Takuma Sato, the Carlin driver line-up was probably the strongest of any team at the event, and Karthikeyan showed he merited his pace by claiming pole position, a quarter of a second quicker than his team-mate, as Carlin filled both front row slots.

"I was pleased to take pole with a time under the lap record," said 23-year-old Karthikeyan.

"The car was good and I felt comfortable whenever I was on the track, so it was good to set a time 1.3-seconds quicker than Darren Manning did for pole last year."

"In the first race I had a 4.7-second lead after just four laps. Then, as I was braking for a corner, the circuit was so bumpy that my foot slipped off the brake, I nudged the accelerator and that was that -- race over.

"I then had to start 27th on the grid for the second race, and fought my way up to 13th at the end of the 15-laps. I had been quick through Reservoir corner all weekend, and that gave me the speed to go past people on the straight. On my 11th lap I set my fastest time, good enough for a new lap record and six-tenths quicker than anyone else in the race. It was also nice to beat my team-mate -- he has been the form man, and had a special engine for this event, so it was particularly satisfying!

"I took pole position, the lap record, set two fastest laps -- but didn't win the big one. We go to Changwon, Korea, next for the race this weekend (November 26), and I'm looking for a win there."