Armaan finishes eighth on US debut

CHENNAI: Armaan Ebrahim's debut at Indy Lights in the US might have begun on a slow note during the qualifying session for the 'St Petersburg 100', the season-opening race in Florida on Saturday. But the 23-year-old Indian finished the weekend on a high, earning points after finishing in eighth place among 15 runners after 45 grueling laps on the 1.8-mile street track.The race was won by another debutant - Frenchman Tristan Vautier of front-running team Sam Schmidt Motorsports. Tristan was on pole for the race and took the chequered flag, edging out teammate Esteban Guerrieri.Armaan, who races for Fan Force United, making itsdebut, had trouble during practice sessions and the qualifying run. The Chennailad's progress was hampered by brake problems which troubled him during the racetoo.He qualified 14th for the race but once the lights went green,Armaan stepped on the pedal. His progress up the order was also helped by thethree yellow flags during the race. The Indian was quick off the block duringthe restart on all three occasions and gained places which he maintained tillthe chequered flag to earn 24 points and $11000 from the outing."Itwas always going to be a difficult opening round as I need to get used to theIndy Lights car which is very different from the GP2 and F2 cars that I havedriven," said Armaan, who had raced in Europe the last three years plying histrade in F2."With a stick shift six-speed sequential gearbox and aheavy engine at the back, the characteristics of the car are very different andit does require a lot of testing to adapt to it. However, I am quite pleasedwith the result given the fact that we have had just two days of testing at adifferent circuit last week and also given the brake problems that we hadthroughout practice, qualifying and the race. We can only gain from this andmove forward," he added.Armaan will take to the cockpit again nextweek for the second race of the Indy Lights season at the Barber Racing Circuitin Alabama.