The historic Monza Circuit bore witness to yet another unprecedented feat as 18-year old Jehan Daruvala took his maiden pole position in round two of the FIA Formula 3 European Championship, adding yet another milestone to his ever-growing roaster of Indian firsts in the world of motorsport.
FIA Formula 3 is the toughest junior racing category in the world, having produced some of the best racing talents ever known including Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel.
Driving for Carlin Motorsport, Jehan was in the mix at the sharp end of the field straightaway despite only being in his second race weekend of the series at the 5.79-km circuit, which has hosted F1 every year but once since the World Championship’s inception in 1950.
Running alongside the World Touring Car Championship this weekend, the FIA F3 featured two practice sessions before qualifying, where Jehan put in some solid work to finish fifth and third. Having made some refinements to the setup thereafter, the Mumbai lad brought it all together for qualifying – taking pole position with a scorching lap-time of 1:44.105, which was just 0.030s quicker than his Carlin teammate Lando Norris.
Top six drivers from the grid of 19 were covered by just half a second in qualifying, showcasing the competitiveness of the series. It was a good day out for Carlin Motorsport as a whole, claiming positions 1-2-3-5 on the grid.
Elated having taken his first pole position in Formula 3, Jehan said “It is an amazing feeling to be on pole in only my second weekend in F3. The team has given me a fantastic car and I am glad that we could pull this off together”.
The weekend will feature three races in total – with race one scheduled tomorrow with a further two races scheduled on Sunday.
FIA FORMULA 3 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 2, MONZA
QUALIFYING RESULT:
POS DRIVER COUNTRY TEAM TIME
1 Jehan Daruvala INDIA CARLIN 1:44.105
2 Lando Norris UK CARLIN 1:44.135
3 Jake Dennis UK CARLIN 1:44.202
4 Callum Ilott UK PREMA 1:44.370
5 Ferdinand Hasburg AUSTRIA CARLIN 1:44.552
6 Joel Eriksson SWEDEN MOTOPARK 1:44.554
Unnatee Gidithuri
Dipan Sur
