Sports
Armaan wins first round in Asian motorsports championship
Kuala Lumpur | May 17, 2008 6:45:13 PM IST
Armaan Ebrahim gave himself a birthday gift by winning the first round of the Formula Renault V6 Asia Championship at the Sepang circuit here Saturday. Armaan, who turned 19, was taking part in the series for the second year after finishing runner-up in the 2007 championship. He virtually destroyed the field to win by nine seconds. Despite the commanding victory, Armaan, driving again for the Tara DTM team, had to readjust to driving a lesser-powered car after having driven in the GP2 Asia series earlier this year. He was braking rather late leading to loss of precious fractions as he had to correct himself going into the corner. In the event, he qualified only third on the grid despite topping the time charts in all the seven test sessions in the lead up to the race weekend. "We were really quick in practice and to top the time sheets for all seven sessions is something the team and my engineer should take full credit for. In qualifying, I lost my way a bit as I tried to fine-tune my car to the limit and it backfired. "To add to it, I was still braking way too late into the corners and I need to still re-adjust my driving style to suit the V6 after the GP2 Series this year. In addition, I think I need to relax a lot more in qualifying," he said. As the lights went green at the start of the race, Armaan jumped into the lead going into the first corner and then opened up a 10-second gap before easing off to win comfortably from Earl Bamber who finished a second ahead of James Grunwell. Commenting on his victory, Armaan said: "It's great to win the opening race and also on your birthday. I turned 19 today and this will be my last year as a teenager. Thus, I intend to make the most of it by getting quicker and better as a racing driver with every opportunity that I get." ap/abr/jg (370 Words)17051823NNNN (IANS)
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