India’s Aditya Patel blew a potential win and eventually finished second behind South African Aston Hare in the 11th round of the JK Racing Asia series, running as a support race to the Formula One Indian Grand Prix, here Sunday.
It was Patel’s second podium of the weekend, having finished third in the first race Saturday, and looked good for a win only to lose to Hare who overtook the Indian at the fag end of the race.
Patel had started fourth on the grid, but managed to get past Hare to the first corner. He then battled with race one winner Afiq Ikhwan who eventually dropped another place and finished fourth.
With pole-sitter Nabil Jeffri opening up a big lead, Patel looked certain to finish second, but a drive-through penalty for the Malaysians for a false start allowed the Indian to get to the front and chased by Hare.
The South African looked the quicker of the two and caught up with Patel four laps from the finish. The Indian defended gamely, but Hare eventually slipped past Patel entering the start-finish straight and then held on to win by 2.7 seconds. Malaysia’s Daniel Hidzir completed the podium.
Other Indians finished way down the grip with Akhil Khushlani managing a seventh, ahead of Raj Bharath and Vishnu Prasad.