Armaan makes a good opening in the FIA GTI World Championship race in Moscow – Russia, finishing 9th and in the Points.

Driving for Team SunRed racing and paired with French Driver Larriche, the JK Tyre prodigy started to to step up the game from Free practice to Qualifying. Being the quicker driver of the Team, Armaan closed the gap from over 2 seconds per lap down to 9 tenths of a second in Qualifying and putting the car 9th on the grid.. Both drivers did a good job with the car that is still under going development to be on par with the Audi’s, Mclarens, Mercedes and Ferrari’s.

In the 60 minute Qualifying race, team mate Larriche took the start and maintained his position for the opening few laps. Just before the race there was a heavy shower and the race started in wet conditions. Unfortunately after 5 minutes into the race Larriche got hit hard from behind and that sent him spiraling off the track and by the time he regained track position, he was already down a lap. The impact also bent the tracking rod system which affected the handling of the car considerably. Another lap was lost in the Pits during the driver change over to repair the damage and Armaan held fort for the last 25 minutes in his stint in a badly damaged car.

The Main Race which was again a 60 Minute Race started in wet conditions and this time, Armaan took the start and brought the Car from P 11 from where they started to P6. It was tough going out there with the Viper not working making visibility almost down to Zero commented Armaan. However, Armaan maintained a strong 6th place before handing over the car to partner Larriche in the mandatory Pit Stop which takes place between 25 and 40 minutes of the 60 minute race distance. Larriche continued the good work done by Armaan for a few laps, but lost 3rd gear after that and thus had to drop down 3 places to finish 9th in the GT1 Class. This was only the 2nd time that the Team scored points for the whole season.

Armaan said "It was definitely a good opening and could have been much better had we not had the gearbox problems as we were lying in a comfortable 6th position mid way through the race. Though the car is still not up there as compared to the quicker Ferraris, Audi’s, Mercedes, Mclarens and BMW’s, we were able to keep improving the car all the time. Being a tight circuit, we suffered a lot as the GT 40 is a lot heavier than most of the competition and it was difficult to keep pace with the more nimble cars in the slower corners. But we were really quick in the faster stuff and our 3rd sector times were amongst the quickest of all in the race. We now look forward to Nurburgring in the next few weeks."