It turned out to be a day of mixed luck for India's Armaan Ebrahim in the Formula BMW Asia Series as a mistake on the chicane forced him to retire in the first race, but he managed to finish fourth in the second race in Pattaya, Thailand on Sunday.
The challenge of the 15-year-old, driving for Korea's E-Rain, in Round Five got over in no time as he failed to control the car on the chicane in the second lap itself and after bouncing over the kerbs spun and came to a standstill.
Armaan, who created history last month in Malaysia by becoming the first rookie driver to win a race, later admitted that it was entirely his mistake.
"I made a mistake on the chicane by hitting too hard on the kerbs. The car was airborne and spun and just stopped," he told reporters.
Team Meritus claimed all the three podium spots with Hamed Al-Fardan of Bahrain taking the chequered flag with a time of 20:56:860.
Michael Tony Patrizi of Australia and Charlie-Ro Charlez of Malaysia finished second and third respectively.
The second session was slightly better for Ebrahim, but once again a small mistake cost him podium finish.
The drivers were forced to restart the race after it was stopped in the very first lap when local hope Robert Boughey of Team Meritus crashed on the first chicane. Armaan passed Patrizi on the first corner but could only maintain the position for just two laps before surrendering the initiative.
The Indian overlooked the approaching Patrizi and in an effort to close in on Al-Fardan, ran a bit wide on the first corner on lap four allowing the Australian to pass him on the ensuing straight.
Armaan's teammate and championship leader Salman Rashid Al-Khalifa, who had also crashed out of the first race, led from start to finish to complete his third win in six rounds and maintain his position on the leader board with 87 points.
Fardan and Patrizi took the second and third spot.
The two mistakes also cost Armaan valuable position on the leader board as he slipped to fourth on the overall championship list with 60 points and Charlie (94) took sole lead in the Rookie category and is leading the Indian by 12 points.
The Malaysian, who finished fifth in Round Six, also took the second spot in the overall standing with 65 points while Al-Fardan pipped Armaan for third with 61.
Armaan blamed himself for the final outcome of the day.
"It was entirely my mistake in the first race and in the second I went a bit too wide and he [Patrizi] made the most of it," he said.
"I am very disappointed with the final outcome because I had led everyone over the two day practice sessions on Thursday and Friday but could not get the results when it mattered," Armaan said.
