Podium for Daruvala in race one
The crucial final round of the Formula Renault 2.0 NEC championship at Hockenheim started on a good note for Jehan Daruvala with a podium finish in race one of the weekend.
Photo by: Renault Sport
In doing so, Daruvala closed in on rookie rival Max Defourny after a brilliant third place finish, clinching his third podium of the maiden season and yet another rookie trophy.
The young Indian star who turned 17 on Thursday started the first race from third behind the Josef Kaufmann Racing duo Louis Deletraz and Kevin Jorg.
In the opening lap, ART's Ukyo Sasahara swept past the Indian off the line and Jorg at turn two. Daruvala maintained third after a side by side battle with Jorg, who had to give up as he ran out of the track.
It was then just bringing home a third place for Daruvala behind Deletraz and Sasahara; the Indian was almost a second behind the Japanese driver and so second was out of reach.
As Defourny only finished eighth, the Fortec driver brought down the gap to just 4.5 points with two races to go on Sunday and promises to be a good rookie battle.
On Friday, Daruvala finished ninth and eighth in the two practice sessions, headed by Deletraz and Jorg respectively.
He qualified third in qualifying one while sixth in qualifying two. Deletraz took pole as Jorg and Sasahara were second and third in qualifying two for Sunday's race.
Be part of Motorsport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Mahindra hurt by 'bad grid position' in Qatar Moto3
Kornfeil puts Peugeot in Top 3 on final Moto3 test day
Dalla Porta takes charge for Mahindra on Day 2 in Moto3 test
Daruvala ‘doesn’t know what to expect’ on Formula E debut
Daruvala joins MP Motorsport for fourth F2 campaign
What the future holds for two Red Bull juniors fighting in the F2 battleground
Budget issue forces Fortec out of Misano F3 round
Fortec to make European F3 return in Hungary
Fortec explains why it abandoned 2018 F2 entry
Williams may as well “go home” if spares situation changes its F1 approach, says Albon
Aston Martin ‘not convinced’ Alonso would definitely want to stay in F1
Porsche lodges appeal over da Costa's Misano Formula E disqualification
Ricky Taylor looking for redemption at Long Beach
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments