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Taupo (New Zealand), Jan 21: Narain Karthikeyan survived a crash and fought his way up from the 20th place on the starting grid order of the sprint race to guide A1 Team India to a 10th-spot finish in the format race here on Sunday.

Karthikeyan's 10th place finish earned Team India a point, taking its total to 28 points to tie with A1 Team China. In the feature race Narain Karthikeyan had a good start and gained one place in the first corner, where several other teams spun off the track.

However, during the first fatal lap Karthikeyan ran into trouble when A1 Team Italy seemed to pull back. The two cars hit each other and Team India car spun out and was hit from behind by another team.

This rendered his car 'undrivable' - as the rear upper right fish bone was destroyed one bent and the other broken. "It was a disappointing end result, however, we have brought home one point for A1 Team India in the sprint race. I look forward to our next race in Sydney and hope to bring home more points," said Karthikeyan.