A1 Team India had a very positive weekend, despite having the unfortunate incident of an alternator failure during the feature race, which shut off all the electrical systems and brought the car to a standstill.
Team India started race day with a plan of making up a few positions during the sprint race, which the team started in 17th place on the grid. India's driver Karun Chandhok did a good job in making a few places at the rolling start, and by mid-race they were had moved up to 13th. Unfortunately, Chandhok ran wide in a corner and momentarily went off the track rejoining in 17th place, a position which he held until the end of the sprint race.
Despite not making up any places in the sprint race, India nevertheless approached the feature race with confidence to do well. The start of the race went off well with no incidents for India, while a few other teams had some problems at the start, including Italy and Netherlands who also suffered electrical problems forcing them start from the pit lane.
Various teams had differing pit stop strategies and India had a sound strategy in place in deciding to pit sometime between lap 15 and lap 20. Having seen it's pit neighbours Ireland and Germany complete their pit stops, India pulled in its car on lap 17. At this point of time, India was running in 4th place, as most other teams had already completed their pit stops.
The Indian pit stop was flawless, and on rejoining the track Chandhok was in 13th place, thereby effectively making up four places on the grid.
On fresh tyres, the first out lap by Chandhok after the pit stop was amongst the fastest of all the laps driven in the whole race. Disaster then struck on lap 19 when Chandhok came on the team radio informing the team that the electronics had shut down, bringing the car to a standstill on the main straight. In theory, India could have finished the feature race in 13th place, which would have been a very strong finish and a great morale booster for the driver and the team.
A1 Team India Chairman, Atul Gupta, who was present at the race, had words of encouragement for the team. He commended them on their excellent pit work during the feature race, and is confident that with the constantly improving performance of each and every team member, the races ahead should result in some excellent performances.
