Karun Chandhok drove an amazing race to finish third at the British Grand Prix and secure Ocean Racing Technology's (ORT) first podium finish in the GP2 series in Silverstone on Sunday.
The Chennai-born driver, who had finished sixth in the feature race, ended up ahead of series leader Romain Grosjean.
"I am very, very pleased for the team, being the first podium for them. I was as quick as the guys in front early on but started to struggle with traction later on in the slower corners, so I decided to just make sure I looked after the car till the end," an elated Karun later said.
"It feels really good to be on the podium again at Silverstone. It's a good present for my dad on father's day and also a great day for Tiago (Monteiro) and the boys at ORT," he added.
Karun got his weekend off to a perfect start by finishing third in the first practice. He was looking good going into qualifying but got caught out in traffic which ruined his qualifying. Chandhok ended up qualifying 11th on a circuit where he felt he should have been in the top five.
"I really got messed up in qualifying with traffic. Nunes (Diego) blocked me twice and Valssechi (David) once on my best laps when I was on course for fourth place. After qualifying, they both got penalised but it didn't really help me," said Karun.
In the feature race, Karun faced an uphill task, starting 11th on the grid. However, he had a fantastic start and was in fourth position before a rear wheel nut jammed, costing him three places, and he eventually came sixth.
"We had a good first race. Our pace was very strong and if not for a jammed wheel nut we would have easily been two places up," he said.
Looking ahead, Karun said he would take a mini-break and head home.
"The team has definitely made a lot of progress since the start of the season and finally I believe our luck has changed. I am now looking forward to some days off in India and then the rest of the season starting in Germany," Karun signed off.
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