JEHAN DARUVALA WINS NZ GP
The young Indian joins an illustrious list of drivers like Sir Jackie Stewart and Bruce McLaren to have won the race
Jehan becomes the only Indian to win
a Grand Prix
A WINTER BREAK IN Europe means the young talent out there is looking to stay in practice and enter series taking place in the Asia Pacific region. One of the prestigious ones is the Toyota Racing Series held in New Zealand which Jehan Daruvala has been part of for the last two years. Jehan had performed brilliantly in his debut season by racking up a couple of podiums and a win. This season too he has been equally impressive in the series.
Arriving at the fifth round, Daruvala stepped it up a notch and proved to be the strongest driver in practice as well as qualifying, grabbing pole position for the first race around the Chris Amon circuit in Manfeild, New Zealand. Daruvala lined up ahead of Pedro Piquet, son of former F1 champion Nelson, with the Indian’s lap 0.07 seconds faster than that of the Brazilian. Ferrari Academy Racing driver Marcus Armstrong was a further 0.08 seconds behind the two with Thomas Randle lining up third in the final race – the New Zealand Grand Prix.
Jehan got off well but was demoted to second at the first corner by Piquet as he was on the dirty side of the circuit at the braking point. He held on to second position thereafter and lined up third in the reverse grid for the second race. He had a small incident and had to bring home a damaged car in seventh.
But in the final race, which was the highlight of the entire weekend, Jehan pulled out all the stops to win the prestigious race. The 35-lap race is one of two races (the other being the Macau GP) in the world to gain a Grand Prix status and not feature on the Formula One calendar. Jehan got a better start than race one and was able to pull away from the field. It looked like it was going to be a relatively easy affair for the Sahara Force India Academy driver but the race had to be stopped for an incident between Luis Leeds and Christian Hahn.
Upon restart, Jehan did come under a bit of pressure from Armstrong in the final few laps but Daruvala held on to win his first race of the 2017 season. With the win, Jehan becomes the first Indian to win a Grand Prix and joins the illustrious list of previous winners who have gone on to become Formula One legends like Keke Rosberg, Sir Jackie Stewart, Sir Stirling Moss, John Surtees and Bruce McLaren.
“I am happy with the pace I have had throughout the series. Winning the Grand Prix is absolutely fantastic and is a proud moment in my racing career so far. I am completely focused on what lies ahead and I am confident of a good first year in Formula 3,” said the Indian teenager.
Jehan now gears up for his maiden FIA F3 season as he is on the right trajectory to make it to F1. ⌧