The top three continued to go at it hammer-and-tongs around the remainder of the opening lap, with absolutely nothing to choose between them, whilst Jani, Michael Ammermuller in the German car and Frenchman Franck Montagny completed the top six. As things settled down a little, Karthikeyan held an advantage of some six tenths of a second as the cars flashed across the line for the first time, with the Czech Republic's Filip Salaquarda adding to New Zealand's misery by passing Jonny Reid for 15th place, taking Indonesian Satrio Hermanto with him for good measure and putting the Kiwis' runner-up spot in the nations' standings under serious threat.
Brazil's Xandi Negrao then went off-piste and dropped some way down the order, but there was further drama as he and Khalil Beschir (Lebanon) came together, with the former losing his nose cone in the contre-temps and the latter spinning and subsequently stalling. There was even heavier damage for Adam Khan, whose Pakistani entry engaged in an expensive wheel-banging session with the Australian machine of John Martin. Both were forced into immediate retirement, with the Pakistani car having been sent into the barriers at high-speed and Khan lucky to emerge unscathed.
As if the action at the front wasn't already close enough, that incident brought out the appearance of the safety car to clear Khan's heavily-damaged machine away from the track. When the race got going again at the end of lap eight, Karthikeyan timed the re-start absolutely to perfection, whilst further back Jeroen Bleekemolen aggressively put a move on Adrian Zaugg for seventh place.
![Narain Karthikeyan - A1 Team India [pic credit: A1 GP Media]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/398970.jpg)
