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Rediff.com  » Sports » Narain creates history

Narain creates history

December 16, 2007 18:51 IST
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Narain Karthikeyan created history by winning the A1GP race at Zhuhai (China). His win made him the first Indian to ever win an A1GP race.

Starting from a very strong qualifying at third place, Karthikeyan drove at a fantastic pace and A1 Team India had two very efficient pit stops.

Karthikeyan, who started from third on the grid, took the lead from New Zealand during the second pit stop window on lap 29 and, despite a huge amount of pressure and some good racing from Reid, Narain held off the Black Beauty (A1 Team New Zealand) and went on to fly past the chequered flag in first place. Karthikeyan recorded his fastest lap in 1:25.183 seconds on lap 28 with a top speed of 262.8 kph.

"This has come as a much deserved victory for the team and is good for my confidence," said Narain. "The team has been working really hard at pit stop practices and they've done a really good job this weekend.

"We had excellent pit stops that really paid off and contributed to our victory. It is early in the season and we have already secured points and now have a win. I look forward to racing the rest of the season and bringing home more victories," added Narain.

A1 Team India had a good start to Raceday, picking up two places and finishing the Sprint race in 7th place. For the record, Team Germany won the Sprint race.

A1 Team India now has 27 points and stands 10th of 22 competing nations. The next race, the fifth of the season, is at Taupo, New Zealand next month.

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