Super Formula Okayama: Narain Karthikeyan finishes tenth

India's first ever Formula 1 driver Narain Karthikeyan finished the second round of the 2015 Super Formula series based in tenth place on Sunday to follow his third place finish in the opening round at Suzuka.

The second round of the Japan based series was held at the Okayama circuit, which made its return to the country's premier single seat series after a gap of seven years. Hiroki Ishiura took pole position on Saturday with Karthikeyan in 11th place. Even Audi Sport's factory driver in the World Endurance Championship (WEC) struggled and finished the F1-style knockout session in 13th place.

A noticeable absence in the second round was defending champion Kazuki Nakajima, a former F1 driver for Williams Racing and current driver for Toyota's factory team in the WEC. Nakajima is stil recovering from a frightening crash at the WEC round at Spa-Francorchamps, which left him with a fractured vertebrae.

In Nakajima's absence another former Japanese F1 driver - Kamuyi Kobayashi - took second place in Sunday's race behind pole-sitter Ishiura with Tomoki Nojiri in third place.

Narain Karthikeyan's tenth place finish gives the Indian six points after the first two rounds for seventh place in the drivers' championship. He scored a total of five points after last season's nine-race calendar.

A combination of better knowledge of the unique nature of road courses in Japan along with a move to a Honda powered team - Toyota and Honda are the two engine suppliers in Super Formula - are two factors that could allow Narain Karthikeyan to significantly improve upon his performances from last season.