New Delhi: In a fantastic qualifying session for the final rounds of the JK Racing Asia Series 2012, Indian driver Akhil Khushlani put in a very impressive performance to start Round 13 in third place.

Eurointernational drivers, South Africa’s rookie driver Aston Hare clinched a double pole while Malaysia’s Nabil Jeffri did well to finish for a second place start. Rounds 13 to 16 of the series are underway at the Buddh International Circuit as part of the SIDVIN Festival of Speed.

A happy Akhil Khushlani smiled and said he was happy with a top three result. “I am pretty much okay with the results but I am still six tenths off Aston’s pace. We are going to sit down to have a look at the data and try to find the time for tomorrow’s race,” he said.

Aditya Patel who set a time of 2:00.656 completed the top 6. He said after the session “I am not too sure where I lost my time; I will have to go through the data to see because I am slower today than in practice, when I should be quicker. Anyway, qualifying is done so it’s just the races now”.

Aston Hare, who cemented his Rookie Championship with a marvelous victory last month and occupies second place in the standings stunned championship leader Jeffri by recording a best lap time of 1:59.369 in lap 10. Jeffri finished 0.461 seconds behind.

Despite looking a little worried and speaking with his race engineer right after the session about the tyres, Hare was quite upbeat saying, “Yeah, I am happy. I won’t know until tomorrow how I will do and my tyres are not doing so well but I am happy”. As for Jeffri, he will have to think of the Championship and to maintain as big a gap as possible in the points. “It’s going to be competitive racing tomorrow and I will push hard to win the races,” he said. Both drivers are in a close fight for the Championship with only 34 points separating them before the Qualifying session.

Ikhwan will have a tough day tomorrow starting behind Jeffri but he is confident of his team’s ability to give him the perfect car for the win. “I am not really happy with the results. I struggled with the car but I know my team is able to give me a perfect car. Tomorrow will be tough but I will push as hard as I can for the win”.

His teammate, Aidan Wright was impressive in the second half of the session and set the fifth fastest time with 2:00.368. The Australian is currently second in the Rookie points.

Other than Aditya Patel and Akhil Khushlani, Indian drivers Vishnu Prasad, Raghunathan Mahaveer and Akhil Rabindra, as well as JK Tyre champion Diego Duez are competing under the wings of India’s Meco Motorsport as guest drivers. Amer Beg and Ashraff Dewal are racing with US Formula Project.

By Indian Sports News Network