Armaan takes podium in Shanghai

India's Armaan Ebrahim delivered a podium finish by finishing second in the fifth and final round of the Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo Asia series here on Saturday.

Armaan along with his Sri Lankan partner Dilantha Malagamuwa qualified third overall and second in the Pro-Am class for the first race of the weekend. Going out first, Armaan did well to hold his grid position till he came in to hand over the car to Dilantha. The Sri Lankan also managed to maintain the position to come in third.

However, with the race winner Afiq from Malaysia not classified as he drove without a partner, Armaan and Dilantha were placed second which fetched the pair 12 crucial points that put them in the overall third position for the championship, just four adrift of the second spot and nine behind the leader.

The Chennai-based Armaan had a good run in the qualifying session as he put in his fastest lap and looked set to improve in the next loop, but ran into traffic.

Armaan made a good start in the race to keep pace with the front runners while opening a sizeable gap to the car behind him. After the change over, Dilantha was under pressure and lost a place, but recovered well to regain the position.

"In the first qualifying session which decides where we start in the first race, I did my fastest lap on my first flyer. The next lap should have been the lap, but I was blocked. Nevertheless, I was happy with P3, just three-tenths off the pace," Armaan said after the race.

"The race start was ok. I ran through with the leaders and opened a gap to the guy in fourth. After the pitstop, Dilantha was under some pressure and actually lost a place, but did well to fight back and regain the position."