The second round of the Superfund Nissan World Series saw Narain Karthikeyan finally make it to the podium, living up to the promise shown in the first round at Jarama.

Narain began the weekend on a high, setting the quickest time in free practice, 0.2s ahead of his Carlin Motorsport teammate Bruce Jouanny. Qualifying for race one was held in the wet and saw Narain put his Tata Team Carlin car on the second row of the grind with his teammate two places behind in sixth position. The race started on a dry track and championship leader Franck Montagny shot into the lead from pole with Jordi Gene holding station in second place. At the lights Narain passed Stephan Sarrazin to take third place going into turn 1 and was soon on Gene’s tail.

Uncharacteristically Montagny spun off the track into the gravel trap promoting Gene into the lead with Narain hot on his tail. Narain was visibly quicker and was clearly being held up by the Williams F1 tester. Onlap nine when gene made a mistake at the second chicane, Narain grabbed the opportunity and dived down the inside. The Indian ace however found himself off line on the dirty part of the circuit which was still wet from the previous day’s rain. Braking hard on the slippery surface, Narain got out of shape and lost momentum allowing both Gene and Sarrazin through.

Team-mate Jouanny also drew up close and a poor exit at the next corner saw Narain, Jouanny and Bas Lienders race side by side heading into the chicane. Says Jouanny, "after Montagny went off, Gene was holding us all up and when Narain got a bit out of shape, I was able to draw up close enough to go for him at the chicane. Unfortunately, Lienders was trying to do the same thing and at the chicane – well, three into one chicane just doesn’t go! I was on the outside and I couldn’t turn in without contact so I was forced to take to the grass. Even in the dry it’s hard to control the car when you have two wheels on the grass but it was soaked from yesterday’s rain and I spun."

The spinning Jouanny clipped Narain’s car and he too spun a whole 360 degrees though he managed to rejoin in sixth place. Jouanny was unable to restart as the safety car was brought out to clear the debris.

At the restart Sarrazin overtook Gene before passing the start line and was handed a 25s penalty. Narain overtook Villamil for fifth place and that was the position he finished on the road though Sarrazin’s penalty promoted him to fourth, behind Jordi Gene, Bas Linders and Norbert Seidler.

A resigned Narain later said, "I led the race – really I had no choice but to take the lead from Gene. I was quicker than him and settling for second place would have put me in danger from the cars behind.

When I consider that I had two spins and still managed to finish 4th in the points, I guess it wasn’t a bad result. OK, I finished in the same place that I started but it’s not as though I was just holding station. It was great racing out there today and I’m sure that the spectators won’t easily forget seeing the Nissan cars here for the first time."

Narain started the longer 26-lap race two in ninth position, a race that has a mandatory pit stop for a tyre change, adding an extra dose of pressure on team and driver. Jouanny stalled his car on the grid and had to restart from the back of the grid, loosing his third row slot. Narain made a good start, making up four places and then pitted early whilst his team-mate stayed out longer to make up track position. Narain’s pit stop however was slower than Bas Leinders and saw him rejoin the race at the tail end of a four car stream behind second placed Jordi Gene, Jean Christophe Ravier and Bas Leinders.

The pressure eventually got to the drivers and at the second chicane on the very last lap Leinders and Ravier touched and Leinders’ car was thrown into Jordi Gene causing them both to spin out of the race. Ravier survived to finish second, behind runaway race winner Franck Montagny who now has three victories from four races and leads the championship standings.

Narain came home to take his first podium of the season while his team-mate finished in fifth position. After the race a delighted Narain said. "That was pretty good. To get a 4th and 3rd place here in the two races against some of the best drivers in the world and spinning twice along the way is a solid result with some very valuable points. I felt my car was well set up and I was able to push really hard to put maximum pressure on the guys in front. I was a bit unlucky in the first race but made it back in the second jumping from 5th to 3rd on the last lap. I can’t wait for the next race. Who knows, may be we’ll get a full weekend without rain!