Karun Chandhok came all the way from the rear of the grid only to finish seventh, just outside the points, in the GP2 race on Sunday.
The Ocean Racing Technology driver had earlier retired from the Feature Race after struggling with the handling of his car.
On a dry track for qualifying, Chandhok and his ORT teammate Alvaro Parente started off strongly and occupied the first two positions for majority of the session but the Indian eventually finished in sixth place, a mere two-tenths away from pole.
Chandhok struggled in the Feature Race, fighting hard to keep his car on track and eventually spun out.
The retirement forced Chandhok to start 18th but he moved up to 13th by the end of the first lap.
He fought his way up to 10th before the safety car came out when Maldonado and Kobayashi crashed.
This put him in eighth place and he overtook another car to finish seventh.
"We had a great car today but starting in 18th place this is the best that we could do. After yesterday's race we made some major changes to the car and it felt very good to drive," Chandhok later said.
"This has always been my favourite circuit so I enjoyed driving here today. It is disappointing that we did not have the same car yesterday but this is racing," he added.
