Sunday, April 24 2005 20:28 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Imola (Italy): Narain Karthikeyan finished more than a lap ahead of his team-mate Tiago Monteiro to steer his Jordan Toyota car to 14th position in the San Marino Grand Prix in Imola today (Apr 24, 2005) as Renault's Fernando Alonso clinched the contest forcing a charged-up Michael Schumacher to be content with the second place.

Narain, who began the race in 17th spot, gave a near flawless display for his third finish in four races.

He was forced to retire in the last race in Bahrain due to an electrical fault in his car after decent finishes in the first two races - in Melbourne and Kuala Lumpur.

The Indian ace finished nearly 17 seconds behind Red Bull Racing's David Coulthard, who came 13th.

The battle for the top spot between Schumacher and Alonsa provided an edge of the seat thriller for the roaring fans at Imola before the Spaniard used all his skills to nose ahead at the finish line just 0.2 seconds ahead of the Ferrari driver.

BAR-Honda's Jenson Button took the third while McLaren Mercede's Alexander Wurz and team-mate Takumo Sato came fourth and fifth respectively.