India's Narain Karthikeyan [Images] finished more than a lap ahead of teammate Tiago Monteiro as he steered his Jordan car to 14th position in the San Marino Grand Prix in Imola on Sunday.

Renault's Fernando Alonso [Images] took the honours, beating seven-time world champions Michael Schumacher [Images] in a thrilling finish.

Narain, who began the race in 17th spot, produced a near-flawless display to post 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 was nearly 17 seconds behind Red Bull Racing's David Coulthard, who was 13th.

The battle for the top spots, between Schumacher and Alonso, 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 [Images] driver.

BAR-Honda's Jenson Button [Images] was third while McLaren Mercedes' Alexander Wurz and teammate Takumo Sato came fourth and fifth respectively.

Race Classification:

1. Fernando Alonso (Spain) Renault 1:27:41.921

2. Michael Schumacher (Germany [Images]) Ferrari +00:00.215

3. Jenson Button (Britain) BAR 00:10.481

4. Alexander Wurz (Austria) McLaren 00:27.554

5. Takuma Sato (Japan [Images]) BAR 00:34.783

6. Jacques Villeneuve (Canada [Images]) Sauber 01:04.492

7. Jarno Trulli (Italy [Images]) Toyota 01:10.200

8. Ralf Schumacher (Germany) Toyota 01:10.800

9. Nick Heidfeld [Images] (Germany) Williams 01:11.200

10. Mark Webber [Images] (Australia [Images]) Williams 01:23.200

11. Vitantonio Liuzzi (Italy) Red Bull 01:23.704

12. Felipe Massa [Images] (Brazil [Images]) Sauber 1 lap

13. David Coulthard (Britain) Red Bull 1 lap

14. Narain Karthikeyan (India) Jordan 1 lap

15. Tiago Monteiro (Portugal) Jordan 2 laps

Retired, with laps left: Christijan Albers (Netherlands) Minardi 42 laps, Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Ferrari 44 laps, Kimi Raikkonen [Images] (Finland) McLaren 53 laps, Patrick Friesacher (Austria) Minardi 54 laps r. Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) Renault 57 laps.

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