Jehan Daruvala is on quite a roll this year. The18-year-old Sahara Force India Academy Racer notched up his second F3 podium for the season by finishing third in Race 1 at the Hungaroring Formula 1 circuit in Mogyoród, Hungary. The track hosted round 4 of the FIA F3 European Championship, along with the DTM racing series.
Jehan started strong in the Rookie class, topping the timesheets in the first practice, with a lap time of 1:36.073. He dropped to fourth in the second practice, but managed to qualify fourth for Race 1, despite the rain. He even matched Jake Hughes’ time of 1:50.224; Hughes posted his lap time before Jehan and, hence, started ahead of Jehan. Maximilian Gunther from Germany started on pole.
Jehan started third after one of the top three racers was penalised post qualifying. Jehan pulled alongside second-placed racer, Jake Hughes, in the run down to the first corner, but went off-track when a third racer barged in. But, the Indian teenager was able to join back and stay in the third position behind Hughes.
Soon, the Virtual Safety Car was put into action due to an accident between other racers and Hughes managed to keep Jehan at bay at the restart. Jehan managed to close in on Hughes, but Australia’s Joey Mawson joined them to make it a three-way battle; no positions changed though, and they finished second, third and fourth, respectively. Gunther won the race comfortably.
Jehan’s third place came after he took pole and finished second at the Monza circuit in Italy in round 2. Jehan also stood on the top step of the podium in the Rookie classification, ahead of Mawson and teammate, Lando Norris.
“I am happy to have made it onto the podium again here. Towards the halfway point, I was given a warning for track limit infringements, so I was a little bit more cautious after that. I didn’t want to risk a penalty. Then, I hoped for Jake to make a mistake in front of me, but he didn’t give me that pleasure. I also had to keep an eye on Mawson who had closed right up,” said a satisfied Jehan after his podium.
Crosswinds slowed down Daruvala in Race 2 and Race 3, where he qualified ninth and tenth, respectively. Additionally, the tight nature of the circuit left little room for overtaking. However, he moved up a place in each race to finish eighth and ninth in the two races. He also earned two additional podiums for finishing second and third in the Rookie classification.
Jehan’s performance in the three races moves him up to sixth overall on the points table. He remains second in the Rookie standings with 212 points. The FIA F3 European Championship moves to the street circuit of Norisring in Germany on July 1-2.
Unnatee Gidithuri
