Motorsports: Karthikeyan secures podium finish

Suzuka (Japan), April 19
Indian racer Narain Karthikeyan, driving for team Docomo Dandelion, snatched a podium spot by finishing third in the first round of the 2015 Japanese Championship Super Formula series here Sunday after starting second on the grid.

The Coimbatore-based Karthikeyan, India's first ever Formula One driver, clocked the second fastest lap of the 43-lap race around the 5.8 kilometre circuit with a time of one minute, 41.048 seconds as he came in behind winner Andrew Lotterer and Kazuki Nakajima.

Results:

Round 1 (43 laps): Andrew Lotterer (Petronas Toma's) 1 (1hr, 14mins, 01.371secs); Kazuki Nakajima (Petronas Tom's) 2 (01:41:10.855); Narain Karthikeyan (Docomo Dandelion) 3 (01:14:29.077).