Karun wins inaugural Formula V6 sprint race

Sepang, Malaysia, May 14: Indian racing star Karun Chandhok had a mixed bag at the Sepang F1 circuit today and while the Team E-Rain Racing driver zipped past his competitors to win first Sprint race of the inaugural Formula Renault V6 Asia, a techincal error in the Race 2 robbed him off a certain podium finish.

The 22-year-old Team E-Rain driver led every single lap of the race en route to victory at the Malaysian, Sepang F1 circuit.

However, the Chennai-born was robbed off 15 championship points when an electric failure in the lap 14 of the Race 2 put an end to another dominant drive.

Earlier the Sprint race today, Karun started from the pole and accelerated away to take an instant lead into the tight first corner. By the time the field had come around to finish lap 1, the Madras born driver had pulled out a lead of 1.3 seconds which he then extended to nearly 4 seconds by lap 8 when the race was stopped after the Korean driver Jeffery Lee spun into the gravel.

At the re-start Karun once again shot into the lead, pulling out a massive 3.6 seconds in the 3 remaining laps to record his first victory of the season.

In the second race, Karun once again moved into the lead going into the first corner. With every lap, the E-Rain Racing driver moved further and further away, building a lead of over 10 seconds in 12 laps. However the misfortune on lap 14 though put an end to his bid.

Later Karun said, ''I'm quite happy with the way things went despite the problem in race 2. All through practice I've been at the top of the times and to finish the weekend with pole position, fastest lap in both races, a win and to be leading the second one by over 10 seconds shows that we had the fastest package this weekend.'' Result: Formula V6 Asia by Renault - Super Sprint (12 laps): 1. Karun Chandhok (India) Team E-Rain 38:52.341s, 2. Hanss Lin (Taipei) Team E-Rain 38:55.036s, 3. Hamad Al Fardan (Bahrain) Team Meritus 38:55.592s

UNI