Indian driver Chandhok and team qualify third

India's Karun Chandhok along with his Murphy Prototypes teammates Rodolfo Gonzalez and Alex Kapadia qualified third in his first ever European Le Mans (ELMS) race here Saturday.

Murphy Prototypes had to deal with an electrical issue that curtailed their running in Free Practice 1. The team managed to finish sixth overall in FP1 clocking 1:52:881 but improved it to 1:50.444 in FP 2 to finish fifth overall.

Qualifying saw Chandhok leading the charge for the team in the Hertz Car Sales Oreca 03 Nissan. Former Formula 1 driver Christian Klien went on provisional pole before British driver Harry Tincknell took over at the top with a 1:47:702.

Chandhok slotted into second position with a 1:48:912 but was pushed to third when Frank Mailleux posted a 1:48.854.

"Its a good start to the season and the team is very excited to start in third. The car is working well and more importantly all three drivers seem to be comfortable with the car. It's a long race and so qualifying not as critical here but always good to start at the front of the grid," India's second ever Formula 1 driver Chandhok said.

"Rodolfo will start the race with Alex going second and then I will run to the end. I am optimistic that if we have a clean race, we can get a podium so looking forward to going racing again."

The first round of the ELMS race here will see 112 drivers, 39 cars and 25 nationalities in action.