PTI

Gauteng (Soth Africa), Feb 23: More than the three points he won in Sprint Race, it's returning empty-handed in Feature Race that rankles Narain Karthikeyan who reckons things would have been different for the A1 GP side with more finance.

Karthikeyan ran a spirited race in Sprint, finishing sixth which earned the side three precious points at the Kyalami Circuit.

In the subsequent Feature Race, Karthikeyan started 18th on the grid and moved up to the 11th place before eventually finishing 12th.

"I'm quite disappointed that we were not able to score points in both races despite being on the pace," rued the Indian.

"The disadvantage of starting in 18th place for the Feature Race was very difficult to overcome. Coupled with the fuel pressure problem in the last few laps, it made for a disappointing finish," he said.

On the positive side, Karthikeyan said, "However, we showed that we have the pace to run at the front of the field with our 6th place finish in the Sprint race."

The driving ace said working on a shoe-string budget was a major handicap for the team which has been hit hard after Spice Energy, the previous seat holder, backed out.

"We are at a disadvantage to some of the other teams as our financial position is not as strong as theirs and therefore we are not able to have a selection of things like gear-ratios, spring, etc. which could help us to get an optimum setup for the car/circuit combination," Karthikeyan said.

"We are very fortunate to have some backing from the Tata Group but we are hoping that some more corporates in India get behind us and support the national racing team as we go to the next race in six weeks time in Portugal," he said.