Narain’s moment of glory

Narain Karthikeyan, the winner, is flanked by Jonny Reid (left), the runner-up, and Adrian Zaugg, who finished third.-Narain Karthikeyan, the winner, is flanked by Jonny Reid (left), the runner-up, and Adrian Zaugg, who finished third.

“The team has been working really hard at pit stop practices and they’ve done a really good job this weekend. Both the pit stops were excellent,” said a delighted Narain.

Narain Karthikeyan earned India its first-ever A1 Grand Prix race win in an incident-packed race at the Zhuhai International Circuit, China on December 16. The 30-year-old Indian was joined on the podium by New Zealand’s Jonny Reid, who started from 10th on the grid, and South Africa’s Adrian Zaugg, who finished third.

“The team has been working really hard at pit stop practices and they’ve done a really good job this weekend. Both the pit stops were excellent,” said a delighted Narain.

Narain, who started from third on the grid, took the lead from New Zealand during the second pit stop on lap 29. Despite a huge amount of pressure and some excellent racing from Reid, Narain held off the New Zealander’s late challenge and crossed the line to score India’s first A1GP success.

Reid, who raced from 10th on the grid to finish a superb second, was also delighted with New Zealand’s teamwork. “It was a fantastic team effort. Having struggled in qualifying, obviously I’m very pleased to come from 10th on the grid to threaten for the win in the end. “It’s a credit to the team.”

Zaugg also enjoyed a strong race to take the final podium position, having started from ninth on the grid.

Zaugg was under attack from Germany’s Michael Ammermuller during the last 10 laps of the 45-lap race, but the 21-year-old South African pushed hard to take third place ahead of the German rookie, who had to be content with fourth place.