Driving for Meco Motorsport, the Bangalore-based Bharath said: “We did a few changes which we thought would make the car better on slicks, as the qualifying was wet. Although there was some improvement, it wasn’t perfect. But it’s not a bad result,” he said.

Despite lacking outright pace in the car, Bharath didn’t give in without a fight and ultimately crossed the line just 0.9 seconds behind second-placed Ren Nabaguchi and 1.6 seconds behind race winner Afiq Yazid.

There is one more race remaining for the weekend and Bharath starts 10th after things didn’t go according to plan in the second qualifying session where he finished 10.