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Greater Noida: Force India had a moderate success at the Buddh International Circuit (BIC), on Sunday, but they were a happy lot after the four points they earned.
While German driver Nico Hulkenberg gained four places from his grid position to finish eighth, Scot driver Paul Di Resta finished 12th from 16th on the start line.
The team collected four points, bettering their last year’s show at the circuit here. Adrian Sutil had finished ninth in 2011.
Since none of the Sauber drivers could finish in top-10, Force India managed to reduce the gap with the Swiss team to 23 points. The Silvertsone-outfit is chasing Sauber for the sixth place in the team standings.
“It was a good team effort. All the cars in front were quite a bit ahead and quicker as well. That’s the maximum we could have achieved today. It was a smooth race, a smooth weekend,” Hulkenberg said. “We had aimed to finish with points and we should be happy with it,” added Hulkenberg, who had passed Sauber’s Sergio Perez when he was in DRS (Drag Reduction System) zone.
On his overtaking move Hulkenberg said, “DRS did most of the job. I had a good exit on turn three then DRS got activated and it was quite easy to pass Perez.”
Paul Di Resta said that he struggled with the balance of the car. “It was quite a tough afternoon, but I think that we achieved all we could from the race…”
Team Principal Vijay Mallya was also delighted to see his cars scoring points at home. “I’m delighted to see Sahara Force India score points at our home race — for the second year in a row. After qualifying we knew we had a big task ahead of us, but Nico rose to the challenge and raced well to finish in eighth place.”
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