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Scheckter had a good performance in the sprint race in which he finished 10th after starting from 16th on the grid in Estoril, Portugal.
In the feature race another racer strike the back of Scheckter's car in the first corner on the first lap, he had already made up a place and was ninth behind Malaysia at the end of the first lap.
Brazil and Netherlands stalled on the grid and the first lap was completed with the safety car on the circuit.
Many teams, including South Africa, elected to come into the pits immediately for the mandatory pit stop to change all four tyres. The South African team had one of the quickest stops and Scheckter rejoined the race in 16th place.
By lap 14 he was 12th and running strongly when his rear suspension collapsed on lap 15 as a result of damage caused by the first lap contact.
"The car was good and I was confident of finishing in the points again. Looking at the final result, with Ireland third after starting 19th, the USA fourth after starting 13th and Australia 6th after starting 2th, I reckon a top-six result was on the cards,? said Scheckter.
"Someone hit me from behind in the first corner of the opening lap. I managed to keep control of the car and it didn't feel any different after that. But a rear wishbone broke on lap 15 and that was that.
"Very disappointing, especially after all the hard work the team put into improving the set-up over the three days. They gave me a really great pit stop and the car was the best it has been all weekend. "
The feature race was won by Alexandre Premat of France with Neel Jani from Switzerland in the second place. Also on the podium was Ireland's Ralph Firman with Scott Speed from the United States in the fourth position.
