Bahrain: India?s first Formula One driver Narain Karthikeyan gave a perfect demonstration of motorcar racing on a dusty and sandy track as he finished 18th on the Friday practice session of Bahrain Grand Prix at the Sakhir Circuit.

After ending 15th in the first free practice session, the fastest Indian on wheels put up another clinical performance in the second to finish 18th in the final classification.

?I maintained the pace during the second session... I think overall I did a good job for the team,? Narain said after an incident-free driving.

Narain was racing for the first time at the Bahrain international circuit where the desert sun and dust storms make life on the fast lane that much more difficult.

?The tyres had a good grip and I kept trying to find the ideal line to save them for the week-end which was very difficult as it is very dusty off-line.

?The surface on this track is high wear so tyre choice won?t be easy. One needs to make them last for the whole race,? the 28-year old Chennai lad said. (PTI)