F3

PREMA reign in Spain as Daruvala dominates Race 2

Jehan Daruvala wins F3 Race 2 on 12 May 2019. An F3 image

Barcelona, 12 May 2019: Jehan Daruvala once again created history, winning in the inaugural round of the all-new FIA Formula 3 Championship, in Barcelona, in front of a huge F1 audience. The Indian National Anthem rung out at the Spanish F1 Grand Prix event thanks to the F3 races being one of the support events to F1, along with the FIA F2 races.

The only Indian on the grid started from second and was able to grab the lead into the run down to the first corner. With an accident involving 4 cars at the back of the grid, the safety car was deployed on lap one. At the re-start, Kari was able to benefit from Jehan’s slipstream during the restart, and Jehan had to defend hard to keep the lead. Over the next 2 laps, Jehan quickly opened up a gap of over 1.5 seconds so as to prevent Kari from deploying DRS (Drag Reduction System).

The safety car was deployed a second time negating the advantage of a 2 second gap which Jehan had built up.  During the restart, Jehan was much better prepared and was able to open up a gap of over 1.5 seconds in less than 2 laps. He thereafter controlled the race well and also bagged the fastest lap of the race. Later, Jehan cruised to take the chequered flag 2.121 seconds ahead of Estonian racer Juri Vips, who by then had managed to move up to second.

“During the race I was, let’s say, in control, except for the first restart when I didn’t surprise the guy behind, enough, so I had to defend. After that, I was just managing the pace. I have to thank everyone at Prema Racing for giving me a fantastic car. I did not overdrive it, although if I needed more I could have pushed in the final couple of laps.” said the former multiple International Karting Champion.

The new FIA F3 Championship was created by merging the erstwhile GP3 Championship and FIA F3 European Championship, resulting in an ultra-competitive 30 car grid. The championship will be the perfect training ground for the world’s best upcoming talents, to race at F1 events and the opportunity to prove themselves to all the F1 teams.

The 20-year-old Jehan began his career in Karting at the age of 10. Since then he has won the Indian National Karting Championship, the Malaysian Junior Yamaha Karting Championship, the FIA CIK Asia Pacific KF3 Championship, and the British Superone National Karting Championship. Jehan remains the only Indian on the podium of any FIA World Championship when he was second runner up of the FIA CIK World Karting Championship. Jehan also remains the only Indian to win a Grand Prix, when he won the New Zealand Grand Prix and later went on to become the only Indian to win a race in the erstwhile FIA F3 European Championship, which used slower cars. Earlier this year Jehan was selected by Prema Racing, one of the world’s most successful Junior Racing teams’ to drive for them in this year’s new, FIA F3 Championship.

 Jehan’s next race will be along with the French Grand Prix from 21 to 23 June.

 Race Report:

Jehan Daruvala made it back-to-back wins for PREMA Racing in Spain, after an eventful FIA Formula 3 Race 2 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, finishing on top after a dominant drive ahead of Hitech Grand Prix’s Jüri Vips and Niko Kari of Trident.

Daruvala, the Indian racer, who finished 7th in the first race started on part as Reverse Grid for the first 8 was followed for Race 2 and jumped into the lead as the lights went out with a good start.
The temperature was a mild 17 degrees, but things quickly heated up following a dramatic Lap 1 that saw Daruvala start well from the front row to take P1 from Kari off the grid as Vips dropped from third to fifth behind Marcus Armstrong and Max Fewtrell. Therefore drama further back at Turn 1 with Ye Yifei and Artem Petrov making contact. Raoul Hyman and Jake Hughes had nowhere to go and the ensuing collision sent all four drivers into the gravel and out of the race.
The safety car was deployed while the cars were recovered. Five laps later Kari looked to pressure Daruvala for P1 from the restart, but the PREMA ace calmly held position before building up a healthy lead.
Lap 9 saw more drama as the MP Motorsport machine of Simo Laaksonen was sent spinning into the wall by Campos Racing’s Alex Peroni. The Australian had been forced off the track and tried to defend position as he rejoined, only to cut back across the Finn. Laaksonen was forced to retire, Peroni handed a 10 second stop go penalty, and the safety car saw its second outing of the afternoon.
That meant that Daruvala’s lead over Kari, by this point 7.4 seconds, was reduced to nothing as the racing pack was bunched together. It didn’t seem to bother the Indian though, and following the restart he picked up just where he’d left off and began rebuilding a gap.
Further behind there was plenty of jockeying for position as yesterday’s winner Robert Shwartzman lunged past Christian Lundgaard for P6, and the Danish man immediately had to defend from ART Grand Prix teammate David Beckmann.
With 7 laps to go Vips began a charge from P5 that saw him reel Armstrong and then Fewtrell to burst into the top 3, with Shwartzman closely following the Estonian to take P4. Fewtrell was more than 2 seconds off the pace and fell further back into P7 after teammate Lundgaard passed him.
Vips continued to push, closing on Kari and taking P2 on Lap 21, but Daruvala looked supreme out in front with an unassailable lead to take the chequered flag ahead of the Hitech man in second, Kari in P3, with Shwartzman, Armstrong, Lundgaard, Beckmann and Fewtrell completing the point scoring positions.
The result sees Shwartzman become the early leader in the Drivers’ Championship after Round 1 with 37 points. Lundgaard is second with 24, and Daruvala third by just one point with 23. Armstrong and Vips follow with 21 and 20 points respectively. PREMA Racing leap to an early lead in the Team’s Championship, taking 81 points from the first event of the season, 32 points ahead of ART Grand Prix in second with 49, with Hitech Grand Prix occupying third place with 20 points.
France will host Round 2 of the FIA Formula 3 in June 21-23.
2019 FIA Formula 3 Round 1 – Race 2 classification
DRIVER
TEAM
1
Jehan Daruvala
PREMA Racing
2
Jüri Vips
Hitech Grand Prix
3
Niko Kari
Trident
4
Robert Shwartzman
PREMA Racing
5
Marcus Armstrong
PREMA Racing
6
Christian Lundgaard
ART Grand Prix
7
David Beckmann
ART Grand Prix
8
Max Fewtrell
ART Grand Prix
9
Yuki Tsunoda
Jenzer Motorsport
10
Felipe Drugovich
Carlin Buzz Racing
11
Lirim Zendeli
Sauber Junior Team by Charouz
12
Sebastian Fernandez
Campos Racing
13
Bent Viscaal
HWA RACELAB
14
Logan Sargeant
Carlin Buzz Racing
15
Teppei Natori
Carlin Buzz Racing
16
Pedro Piquet
Trident
17
Liam Lawson
MP Motorsport
18
Keyvan Andres
HWA RACELAB
19
Richard Verschoor
MP Motorsport
20
Devlin DeFrancesco
Trident
21
Leonardo Pulcini
Hitech Grand Prix
22
Andreas Estner
Jenzer Motorsport
23
Alessio Deledda
Campos Racing
24
Alex Peroni
Campos Racing
NOT CLASSIFIED
Simo Laaksonen
MP Motorsport
Fabio Scherer
Sauber Junior Team by Charouz
Jake Hughes
HWA RACELAB
Artem Petrov
Jenzer Motorsport
Raoul Hyman
Sauber Junior Team by Charouz
Ye Yifei
Hitech Grand Prix
OVERALL FASTEST LAP
Jehan Daruvala – PREMA Racing – 1:34.711 – Lap 7
FASTEST LAP ELIGIBLE FOR POINTS
Jehan Daruvala – PREMA Racing
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