KARACHI, May 8: Pakistan’s Nur Ali raced to the second place finish in front of his family, fans and sponsors who assembled to show their support at the Texas Grand Prix in Fort Worth, Texas recently.

After seven long months of a gruelling travel schedule, culminating in the final A1GP World Cup of Motorsport race in London, Ali was finally back at Texas Motor Speedway, to race his #42 Star Formula Mazda Regional race car in the Sunburn Grand Prix.

The weekend’s format included both a qualifying and race on each day. During the morning qualifying session, a total of 31 cars took to the track from four different racing classes. Even though it was later discovered that the tire vendor had failed to balance his tires after mounting them, Ali still managed to get the second position in his class.

In the afternoon as the competition resumed, Ali took to the track with a vengeance and claimed the lead before the end of the first lap. Ali would not relinquish this position until well into lap 13, when fuel delivery problems caused a stalling problem in his Formula Mazda, crippling his chances of victory and pushing him back to a fifth place finish for Saturday’s race.

On Sunday, Ali and the crew were all set to deliver in order to get the car ready for the new racing day. During the morning’s qualifying session, Ali managed to pound out some fast laps, qualifying in second position.

Throughout the 20-lap race, the battle was on among the first three Formula Mazda cars. As the chequered flag flew, Ali took the second place trophy to finish the race. —Agencies