Chandhok's team third in Dubai 24 Hours race

Dubai: Indian racing ace Karun Chandhok got his 2014 season off to a brilliant start as he fought off mechanical issues to finish third in the SP2 class victory at the Dubai 24hours, Asia's leading Endurance race.

Chandhok, competing in race for the second time in his career, drove for the Nissan GT Academy Team RJN.

Chandhok, driving the No. 126 Nissan 370Z Nismo joined Nissan GT Academy winners James Moffat, Tor Graves and Ashley Oldfield in the race.

The No. 126 car was fighting with the RJN sister car for the win when the team suffered issues into the night, costing them more than 2 hours in the pits. The team was at one point 16 laps behind the leader and managed to unlap themselves 5 times but was too late.

Chandhok rued the bad luck but was happy to start the season with a podium finish.

"This is a great start to the year for me and I would like to thank the Nissan GT Academy Team RJN for this opportunity. It was a crazy race and at one point we looked fast enough for the win. You need luck in a 24 hour race and we didn't get our share of the luck but we fought back and took a podium finish," he said.