Armaan wins Formula Renault V6 first round

Chennai, May 17 (UNI) India's young talent, Armaan Ebrahim emerged the winner in the first round of the Formula Renault V6 Asia championship at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia here today.

According to Armaan's father Akbar, India's first F3 driver, Arman, who turned 19 today was taking part in the series for the second year. He finishing runner-up in the 2007 championship.

Arman, driving for Tara DTM team, virtually destroyed the field to win by nine seconds.

Despite the commanding victory, Armaan had to readjust to driving a lesser-powered car after having driven in the GP2 Asia series earlier this year. 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 7 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", 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 second ahead of James Grunwell.

Armaan said ''It's great to win the opening race and also on my birthday today. This will be my last year as a teenager.'' UNI VV RKM US1817