Vitaly Petrov is eyeing the Korean Grand Prix as a race where his Caterham team can get a good result thanks to crashes that bring out the safety car, he said Monday.
Petrov’s best finish of the season came with 13th in Valencia in May when numerous crashes played their part in lifting his normally uncompetitive Caterham up the time charts.
The Russian knows plenty about collisions in Korea, having failed to finish both previous races at the Yeongnam circuit after accidents.
“In the race itself there's a strong chance of safety cars during the race, both races so far have seen safety cars, so we need to be prepared for that,” Petrov said on the Caterham website.
“We don't yet have the pace to really fight with the cars ahead but we need to be ready to take advantage of whatever happens in front of us, and perhaps this is the sort of race where we can do that."
Petrov praised the strength of Russian traveling support at the two previous Korean Grands Prix and suggested it could inspire him to success.
“The first time it was on the calendar was in my first year in F1 and when I got there I was really surprised to see so many Russian flags in the stands,” he said.
“It was the same in 2011 and I'm sure it'll be like that again in 2012 and it's always good to race in front of so many fans from home.”
Petrov was handed a five-place grid penalty after last year’s Korean Grand Prix when stewards ruled his race-ending shunt into the rear of Michael Schumacher’s Mercedes had been avoidable.
