India's [ Images ] Narain Karthikeyan [ Images ] withstood gearbox problems to put up a strong race at the French Grand Prix [ Images ] in Magny Cours on Sunday.

Narain had a superb start but after three laps experienced mechanical issues which prevented him pushing his car to a faster pace and ultimately finished 15th last at the Magny Cours circuit.

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Tiego Monteiro of Portugal, Narain's teammate, came 13th after passing the Indian early in the race to give another clean performance for Jordan.

Championship leader Fernando Alonso [ Images ] of Spain won the race by miles for his fifth win of the season and pushed his tally to 69 points.

Finn Kimi Raikkonen [ Images ] in McLaren [ Images ] came second and was 24 points behind Alonso in the championship standings.

Ferrari's [ Images ] Michael Schumacher [ Images ] came third.

Both the Jordan drivers were on a three-stop strategy, which were all superbly executed.

"I had a great start and was running in front of Christian Klien but then on lap 3, I had a gearbox selection problem," 28-year old Narain said after the race.

"I did not have the third and the fifth gear, so it meant that I had to shift from the second gear directly to the fourth and here, there are a lot of corners in third and fifth. Therefore that problem cost me a lot of time.

"It is a shame, as I was quick all weekend. I am really disappointed and unlucky, but now I will focus on the British Grand Prix next weekend."

The British GP will be at Jordan's backyard, the Silverstone circuit, on July 10.

Monteiro said, "it was a good race for me. I had a good pace, did not encounter any problem and was able to push hard. I was also satisfied with the balance of my car.

"I think there is less and less gap with he people in front of us, which is a good sign, but we must keep on improving the car.

"I had another finish today, which is good for my record. I had a lot of problems during the weekend, but the car was perfect again for the race.

"The reliability was great and I would like to thank everyone for that."