A1 Team India finished the season with a fantastic podium finish in the Sprint Race at Brands Hatch, UK. Narain Karthikeyan qualified the A1 Team India car in 7th place on the starting grid for the race, and after a brilliant start off the line, out-dragging A1 Team Netherlands into the first corner, was in 5th place by the end of the first lap. He continued to put in some excellent lap times for the next few laps until the compulsory pit stop. The A1 Team India pit-crew did their fastest pit-stop of the season, changing all 4 tyres in a blistering 8.8 seconds, one of the fastest pit-stops in the history of the A1GP Championship.

After the pit-stop, Narain continued his consistently fast lap times, putting in the second fastest lap of the Sprint Race. He finished in second place, behind A1 Team Ireland, with A1 Team Mexico in 3rd place.

The Feature Race ended abruptly for Narain, as he was taken out by the spinning car of A1 Team China in front of him on the first corner of the very first lap. It was a disappointing end to a race where Narain was confident of a strong finish.

After the race, Narain said, “I’m very pleased with my drive in the Sprint Race today. The team did an excellent job over the weekend, preparing a very quick car for me. The pit-crew also did an outstanding pit-stop. After our performances last season, this year should have been the year in which our championship aspirations were to materialize. Unfortunately, due to the global financial crisis, our budgets were severely strained, and this has affected our performance throughout the season. I think todays performance was indicative of where we should be in terms of race pace. It’s just unfortunate that we could not replicate the Sprint Race performance in the Feature Race, but it was a situation completely out of my control. I’m hoping that we are able to sort out the financial difficulties we faced this year over the summer, so that we can come back next season and attack this championship in a proper manner. I would like to thank A1GP and its’ Chairman Tony Teixeira, without whose support we would never have been able to complete this seasons’ championship. Lastly, I would also like to thank my sponsors, the Tata Group and Bharat Petroleum, who have supported me for so many years.”