Double podium finish for Narain Karthikeyan in Auto GP

Mugello, Italy: After finishing third in race one, India's Narain Karthikeyan triumphed in the second Auto GP race on Sunday for a double podium finish at the Mugello Circuit in Mugello, Italy.

Karthikeyan was helped after Kevin Giovesi was given a 25-second post-race penalty.

Karthikeyan's win in the fifth round of the championship follows a third-place finish in race one on Saturday.

Super Nova driver Karthikeyan thus boosted his chances of winning the championship after securing a double podium at the 5.2 km circuit, considered one of the fastest in the world with an average speed of 200 kmph in the Auto GP car.

The fastest lap of 1:35.790 gave Karthikeyan an extra point along with the 20 he earned from the win. The first race effort fetched him 15 points and he lies fourth in the standings with 96 points, behind leader Sergio Campana, Kimiya Sato and Vittorio Ghirelli.

The Formula One driver was forced to start from the pits despite claiming pole position in race one after encountering problems.

The Indian had pole position but engine issues forced him to pit early and re-join the race from the back of the field.

However, Karthikeyan worked his way to the podium behind winner Sergio Campana (Ibiza Racing Team) and second-placed Kevin Giovesi (Ghinzani Motorsport).

Karthikeyan helped his team Super Nova earn 15 points and kept them in the lead in the team championship.

Race two on Sunday saw the Indian starting fifth as per the reversed grid, after having finished third on Saturday.

After an action-packed 16 laps, Karthikeyan crossed the line in a close second and was promoted to the top spot a little later when stewards penalised race winner Giovesi for gaining an advantage after going off the track to pass other cars on the opening lap.

"From taking pole, then starting race one from the pitlane to winning now, it has been quite a roller-coaster of a weekend," said an elated Narain.

"I had a good start in race two, and passed a couple of cars but got bottled up behind Kuroda for first two laps, which allow Giovesi to get away at the front. We easily had the pace to challenge for a win," he added.

With Kuroda out of the way, Narain was nearly 2.5 seconds down the road from Giovesi, a gap which he trimmed down to just half a second by the time the pair crossed the line, with Narain posting the fastest lap of the race in the process.