Chengdu, China : 16th September 2007

18 year old Armaan Ebrahim had to pull out everything he was capable of, after having a non finish in yesterday’s sprint race. After being the quickest in all the practise sessions, Armaan lost out in the sprint race, having to take evasive action to avoid colliding with James Winslow and Hans Lin.

The safety car had come after a previous accident in lap 1. As soon as the safety car pulled in, Armaan was alongside James Winslow and Hans Lin into the first corner. But both the cars had locked up their brakes and were heading straight into Armaan, who had no other alternative but to spin his car around in order to avoid a huge pile up. The result was the gravel trap which effectively ended the sprint race for Armaan.

Having to start last on the grid in the Grand race consisting of 30 laps, Armaan had his work cut out. The track being an extremely tight track made matters worse for the 18 year old Chennai kid.

However, Armaan put everything behind him and after making a safe start, started to pick the cars ahead of him one by one. He then caught up with the leader James Winslow from the UK and was decisively quicker than him. However with puddles across the corners, James defended well and Armaan did not risk another DNF and finished a brilliant 2nd. Armaan is now 2 points behind Winslow in the championship.

Commented Armaan : It was a frustrating and a very satisfactory weekend. We were quickest in all the practise sessions and I felt very confident. The first race was crazy as the safety car came out twice due to multiple crashes. This led to the tyres getting quite cold. When the safety car pulled in, I launched an attack on both Winslow as well as Hans as the door was wide open for me into the first corner. However, both had locked up going into the corner and I then had no room left and had to slam my brakes to avoid them which sent me spiralling off the track. That was it and there went my 15 points. But I still have this to say : If I get such an opening again, I will always go for it, or I should’nt be racing.

I was determined to set things right in the Grand race and that is exactly what I did. It was a great feeling to pass many cars in the wet and have a really good dice with James for most part of the race. He held his line well and it was agood clean race and I am really pleased that I pulled back my points. The car was great and the team did a fantastic job, keeping the car in great shape throughout the weekend.

I head to Autopolis, Japan next month, a circuit which is a real drivers circuit and am confident of a good showing. I also wish to thank JK Tyres, Speed, Amaron, Elf and Anand Cine for backing my racing career.