Armaan enjoys seamless transition

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Armaan Eb-rahim enjoyed a seamless transition from open-wheel (Formula cars) racing to spo-rtscars on his debut at the FIA GT1 World Cham-pionship in Moscow.

The Chennai youngster, behind the wheel of Sunred-prepared Ford Cammer GT machine, qualified ninth in the premier category before finishing 11th in the 32-lap opening race.

Armaan’s Spanish team improved their performance in the second race by coming home ninth. French Benjamin Lariche shared the driving duties with the Indian.

Switching from single-seaters to tin-top requires a lot of changes in driving technique and Armaan’s first experience behind the wheel of a GT car turned out to be a challenging outing, especially with treacherous conditions at the Moscow Raceway.

The temperature was closer to sub-zero and the circuit was soaked in heavy rain. Both the races were declared wet and the field lined up behind the Safety Car for the opening laps.

Once the pack was released in greasy track conditions, there was plenty of action during the second race on Sunday. Not just steering clear of the mess, Armaan also braved the extremely wet conditions to start impressively.

He moved up to sixth spot before handing over the car to his teammate Lariche.

“At the end of my stint, I started suffering a problem in the gear and it worsened once my teammate took over. He spun and kept falling back as we finished ninth,” explained Armaan.

Armaan said he was satisfied with his first outing in a sportscar. “Given that I landed here only on Friday, I am happy with my performance,” said Armaan, who managed to reach Moscow after rushing through visa procedures at the eleventh hour.

The next race will be held in Germany on September 23.