Mumbai: India’s fantastic run in International sport continues with Jehan Daruvala winning the 2nd Formula 2 Race at Monza. Jehan started second, and completely dominated the field from lap 1 to win by a massive margin at the Italian Grand Prix weekend.
The Red Bull Racing Junior, started on the front row at the Temple of Speed behind German racer David Beckman. As the lights went out, Jehan had an excellent start. He braked really late to make an excellent move into the first corner.
An incident behind resulted in a Virtual Safety Car situation. The moment racing resumed, Jehan put his head down and drove a clean consistent race. The first few laps had Beckman within DRS range, but Jehan kept his cool and slowly inched away, opening a 1 second margin. Once Beckman was out of DRS range, Jehan steadily increased his lead every lap.
Three laps before the finish, Jehan had already opened a comfortable five second margin. Beckman under pressure fell down to third while Dutchman, Bent Viscaal moved into second. Soon former F3 Champion, Robert Shwartzman from Russia also overtook the German.
Jehan’s dominance meant he won the race by over 6 seconds, ahead of Viscaal & Shwartzman. This was Jehan’s third podium of the season and second Formula 2 victory after he became the first ever Indian to win a Formula 2 race last year at the Sakhir Grand Prix weekend.
"It feels truly special to hear the Indian national anthem on the top step of the podium. Winning at Monza is every racer’s dream. I had qualified well and knew I had the pace to win. Getting ahead of David at the start and then breaking the tow were critical moments in the race. A big thank you to Carlin for the great car. I’m looking forward to the feature race tomorrow.” said an elated Jehan.
Jehan’s fantastic performance in qualifying saw him qualify second, just 0.04 seconds shy of pole. He will start the Feature Race tomorrow in second position, where all racers need to complete a mandatory pit stop.
