Ruapuna TRS: Daruvala wins red-flagged Race 3
Force India protege Jehan Daruvala romped to victory in the final TRS race at Ruapuna, surviving a red flag interruption to clinch his first victory of the year.
Photo by: Rayo Racing
Daruvala was quick off the line when the 20-lap race got underway, immediately establishing a one second gap over the rest of the field.
The margin remained stable until the Indian pulled further away with a blistering time of 1m19.499s on Lap 9.
But, just as the order was settling down, a series of unrelated crashes involving Nikita Lastochkin and Keyvan Andres caused a lengthy red flag period.
Although the Indian driver has often been slow at restarts, he managed to hold his nerve this time around, staying clear in the run down into Turn 1.
With the rest of the pack unable to put on a challenge in the second half of the race, the 18-year-old went on to secure a comfortable win to wrap up the weekend and for the second year in a row took the Lady Wigram Trophy.
Behind, Enaam Ahmed finished a lonely second, while Pedro Piquet recovered from his penalty in the second race to claim his first podium of the season.
Red Bull junior Richard Verschoor was fourth after a charging drive in the first part of the race while Thomas Randle, who was awarded victory in Race 2 after penalties for Taylor Cockerton and Piquet, was classified fifth.
Further back, Ferdinand Habsburg came home sixth, while Brendon Leitch was the highest New Zealander in seventh.
Christian Hahn, Kory Enders and Harry Hayek completed the Top 10.
Ferrari junior Marcus Armstrong ended the weekend on a torrid note, with an early spin on the second lap relegating him to the bottom of the timesheets. He later retired from the race after a clumsy incident with Hayek.
Race 3 results:
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