Silverstone (England), July 20 (IANS): India's Aditya Patel and Portuguese teammate Cesar Campanico finished fifth and second respectively in the GT3 class at the International GT Racing series here Sunday.
After struggling with engine problems during practice, Patel, backed by JK Tyre, Audi and Amante, and Campanico put in Impressive qualifying performances for both races.
While Campanico was first in GT3 and second Overall, Patel, driving the Audi R8 LMS, put the car on overall pole position for race two, ahead of the faster Super GT Cars.
Race one saw Campanico being beaten by the much faster accelerating cars on the star and found himself down in fifth by lap one and third among the GT3 Cars. He then took advantage of a few incidents in front to take the lead of the GT3 class.
However, a botched up pit-stop saw them fall to third place after Patel took the wheel, and an incident after a safety car restart saw Patel fall to fifth, at which position he crossed the finish line.
After working a little on the setup, Patel now took the start from pole position. However, he also found himself being chewed up by faster cars before turn one and fell to sixth overall and third in GT3.
Patel then handed the car over to Campanico who kept good pace and brought the car home in a commendable third place and seventh overall.
Patel said: "Qualifying in the rain worked brilliantly for us. It was amazing to be on pole position in the International GT Open. We knew it would be tough if it dried out though.
"Race one was predictably tough and so was Race two. But to score a podium and valuable points in both races still keeps our hopes alive for a top three finish at the end of the year."
