Karthikeyan 2nd in sprint, ends championships at 12th spot

Brands Hatch, May 03: Team India's Narain Karthikeyan finished second in the sprint race but had to pull out of the feature race with a crash to finish the A1GP World Cup of Motorsports at the 12th position with 19 points.

It was a bitter sweet day for Karthikeyan in the final race of the championship after the Mexico City leg was cancelled due to swine flu scare.

He registered his first and only podium finish this season with the second place finish in the sprint but was unlucky to be involved in a crash in the feature category.

Karthikeyan bagged eight points for his second place finish in the morning behind championships winner Team Ireland's Adam Carroll, the highest in the 12 of the 14 races he took part this season.

The former Formula One Indian driver could have improved his championships position had he not involved in a three-way crash in the first lap of the feature race in the afternoon with cars of United States and China, which eventually resulted to his retirement from the longer race. Starting at 10th at the 20-team grid in sprint race, Karthikeyan took an early pit stop alongside Lebanon, Germany and Malaysia.

He was driving second behind Carroll by the ninth lap and maintained his speed till the end to finish the sprint event at 22:39.934, 7.230 seconds behind Carroll.

Mexico's Salvador Duran finished third in the sprint race clocking 22: 45.044.

Team Ireland, whose driver Carroll also won the feature race, won the championships with an aggregate of 112 points, followed by Switzerland (95) and Portugal (92).

Karthikeyan was confident of a podium finish in the feature race also but the crash put paid to his hopes.

"It was difficult after a small mistake in qualifying as we should have been further up the grid. The car is working well so I think we are looking good for another podium in the feature," he said after the sprint race.