Narain Karthikeyan secured Team India's best ever qualifying slot of fifth place in the starting grid for the Sprint Race at the Chinese A1 Grand Prix in Shanghai on Saturday.

After recording fourth fastest time in the three practice sessions, Karthikeyan picked up the pace further in A1GP's unique four segment qualifying session, setting his two fastest laps of the weekend on his third and fourth laps at the Shanghai International Circuit.

These two fastest times were then combined to determine the team's fifth place on the grid.

"I'm pleased, it's the best ever qualifying result for India, but we still need to get the best out of the tyres and the car during qualifying. I think we have a much better race car than the qualifying car," India's first F1 driver said.

Having driven an F1 car round the Shanghai circuit, Karthikeyan is struck by the comparison between the F1 and A1GP cars.

"The A1GP car feels quite different to an F1 around here. The A1GP car is better when not driven so aggressively, and you have to carry much less speed into the corners."

Commenting on his qualifying performance, Karthikeyan added, "I messed up the first qualifying lap by getting the middle sector wrong, I was carrying too much speed and the car just didn't want to work.

"After that I adjusted my driving style, and went into the corners a bit slower, and the lap times picked up.

"It feels like you're actually going much slower, but it's faster on the clock, and that's the way you have to drive the A1GP car."