Patel finds positives from an unfortunate weekend

Former Formula 1 driver Alex Yoong led the championship heading into the Fuji weekend while Patel sat fourth.

The Indian got the best start to the weekend topping the only practice session with a time of 1m41.901s. He continued the fine run in qualifying, but a post-session penalty stripped him of a third-place finish.

Patel was penalised as he exceeded the track limits and thus started the first race from last while Yoong took pole with Marchy Lee second and Kyong-Ouk You getting promoted to third.

Strong first race; unfortunate end in second

Starting from the back of the field required an extra load of work for the Indian which he did handsomely as he made up nine places to finish ninth.

When asked by Motorsport.com, he said that the top 10 were bunched up tightly and Lee who finished eighth was a tough candidate to pass. Yoong took the win from You and Wai Fung Thong.

In the second race, he started fourth but retired on lap five after getting sandwiched between Alex Au and Thomas Fjordbach, when the two came together.

Patel's front splitter broke as a result and thus he was forced to retire. Lee won the race while Franky Cheng finished second and female driver Rahel Frey third.

The India rued the missed chances but was upbeat with the pace shown and was looking forward to the finale at Shanghai.

Another positive from the weekend was getting a chance to meet the Audi World Endurance Championship drivers, as the R8 LMS Cup was a support race to 6 Hours of Fuji.

Heading into the season finale, Yoong still leads the championship, but he is now tied on 127 points with Cheng on top. Meanwhile, Patel dropped to sixth with 92 points.