With Narain Karthikeyan sizzling on the Zhuhai International Circuit, Team India zipped to its first A1 GP victory by winning the feature race here on Sunday.

Having lost his status as Williams’ test driver after the Formula One team jettisoned him earlier this week, Karthikeyan took the circuit by storm and raced to the chequered flag, quelling the late charge from New Zealand and South Africa.

The Indian clocked 1:08’30.759 to finish 0.502 seconds ahead of Kiwi Jonny Reid. India thus became the 14th nation to record a win in A1 GP.

Starting third on the grid, Karthikeyan stepped on the gas on lap 16 when Portugal slipped back, allowing India to trail Switzerland. And by lap 22, the gap between the Swiss and Indian car had been whittled down to 4.6 seconds.

On the 26th lap, Neel Jani of Team Switzerland developed a problem with the right rear tyre and had to bring the car into the pits, which allowed Karthikeyan to grab the lead.

There was hardly any moment to relax, however, with Pakistan toppling India from the lead before Karthikeyan showing who the boss was again.

Kiwi Jonny Reid then closed down on the Indian with less than half a second separating them but Karthikeyan used all his experience of racing in the top flight and survived the late assault to drive his team to glory.

“This has come as a much deserved victory for the team and is good for my confidence,” said an elated Karthikeyan. “The team has been working really hard at pit stop practices and they’ve done a really good job this weekend. We had excellent pit stops that really paid off and contributed to our victory.

“This shows that what really counts is great team work. It is early in the season and we have already secured points and now have a win. I look forward to racing the rest of the season and bringing home more victories.”