A1GP: Narain Karthikeyan denies Robbie Kerr in final race

Narain Karthikeyan gave India their second A1 Grand Prix victory, holding off Robbie Kerr to win the feature race at Brands Hatch.

Kerr took the lead after the first pit stop by staying out a lap longer than Karthikeyan. The first stint had been interrupted by a massive crash triggered when Adam Khan (Pakistan) carelessly moved across on John Martin (Australia).

Kerr led the second stint but at the second round of pit stops the British and Indian cars pitted together and Karthikeyan’s team turned him around a vital few tenths quicker.

Michael Ammermuller (Germany) crashed out of third place with a tyre failure causing him to go off at Druids. Adam Carroll (Ireland) had earlier lost third place when he knocked his front wing against Karthikeyan’s car, loosening it.

After a couple of laps of remarkable, Gilles Villeneuve-esque driving, losing little speed despite his obvious problem, the wing shattered into pieces at Hawthorn corner, puncturing Carroll’s front left tyre as it went. He still clung into the circuit but finally slithered off within sight of the pits.

New champion Neel Jani (Switzerland) had a quiet race, collecting third place, ahead of Frankie Cheng (China) and Franck Montagny (France). Jeroen Bleekemolen (Netherlands) was chased across the line by Filipe Albuquerque (Portugal), who had earlier passed Jonny Reid of New Zealand in a spectacular move on the outside of the ultra-quick Hawthorn bend.

Reid finished eighth, holding onto second in the championship standings by a single point from Great Britain. Rounding out the top ten were Edoardo Piscopo (Italy) and Satrio Hermanto (Indonesia).