FUJI, Japan, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Heikki Kovalainen went a long way to convincing Renault team boss Flavio Briatore of his worth in Formula One with a stunning second-place finish at Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix.

The Finn put some gloss on a shaky debut season with a superb drive on the rain-soaked Fuji Speedway circuit to give outgoing champions Renault their first podium appearance of the year.

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton claimed victory to extend his lead over team mate Fernando Alonso with two races to go, while Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen kept his championship hopes alive by finishing third.

"I really wanted to take second place rather than just third so I went for it, as much as I could," Kovalainen told a
news conference.

"It was a long race but I'm happy I brought it home, a very good result for all the team.

"Obviously this year has been a bit of a rollercoaster for our team, a disappointing year after the last two years, but
the team definitely deserves this podium."

'RUBBISH' DEBUT

Briatore, who labelled Kovalainen's error-strewn debut at the Australian Grand Prix in March as 'rubbish', was in a more charitable mood on Sunday.

"Our rookie drove like a man with a lot more experience," said Briatore.

Italian team mate Giancarlo Fisichella finished fifth as Renault walked away from Fuji Speedway with 12 points.

Kovalainen was given the tall order of stepping into the shoes of departed double world champion Alonso at the start of 2007. He was expected to overshadow Renault regular Fisichella but his best finish before Sunday was fourth place in Canada.

Renault have yet to announce their driver line-up for next year but Kovalainen looks sure to stay.

"We have a lot of potential in our team. I'm sure we can come back to winning ways and hopefully I will stay with them next year, because I believe they're going to be strong again," said the Finn.