Jehan Daruvala Makes History in F3, Again

Published July 3, 2017
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Wins Race 15 of the F1 feeder series

Jehan Daruvala Wins Race 15 of F3 European Championship

Jehan Daruvala has had a brilliant first season in the 2017 FIA F3 European Championship so far. Earlier, he became the first Indian ever to qualify in pole position and finish on the podium. Now he has achieved another milestone by winning his first race in the championship!

Round 5 of the F3 European Championship was held at the Norisring street circuit in Nuremberg, Germany which consisted of three races (13,14 and 15) across the weekend. The 2.3km long Norisring street circuit is renowned for being fast and flowing albeit unforgiving; mistakes are almost immediately punished with a trip into a concrete wall.

The qualifying times for all three races were very close, with all 18 drivers finishing within 0.6 seconds of the leader!

Jehan qualified P9 for race 13, a mere 0.178 seconds behind pole-sitter Jake Hughes of the Hitech GP team. Jehan was lucky enough to finish the race after a collision with Joey Mawson of Van Amersfoort Racing.

For race 14, Jehan qualified P5 just 0.114 seconds behind pole-sitter Ralf Aron from the Hitech GP team. Jehan could only progress up one place to finish fourth in the race.

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In the qualifying session for race 15, Jehan finally achieved P2, 0.083 seconds behind 2016 Championship runner-up Maximilian Günther - it was a sign of things to come. In the race, Jehan got the jump on Günther at the start and took the lead by the time they crossed the first almost U-turn-like corner. He then went on to complete a perfect lights-to-flag race and win the race 39 laps later.

It was not an easy race by any margin, Maximilian Günther was always on Jehan’s tail. Two full-course yellow phases did not help the Indian, neutralising whatever advantage he could muster. At the end of the race, the gap between Jehan and Günther was only 0.4 seconds!

Jehan Daruvala is the first Indian to win in the relatively new F3 championship. The last Indian to win a race in a comparable series was Narain Karthikeyan who tasted success during the 1999 British Formula Three Championship. Jehan was given his trophy by 2001 Formula 1 title runner-up David Coulthard.

Jehan Daruvala was understandably ecstatic after this win. “It feels brilliant to get my first F3 win. I have been quick all weekend & it finally came together this race. I knew the start was crucial, so I focused a lot on that. Once I had Max at the start, I just had to ensure that I made no mistakes. The pressure was immense through the race, but I was enjoying myself. I must thank the team for a fantastic car all weekend & everyone else around me who have been instrumental in my success,” he said.

With this win, Jehan is currently fifth in the driver's championship with 106 points. Maximilian Günther leads the championship with 236 points. Jehan is also in the second position in the rookie driver's championship, only 20 points behind leader (and teammate) Lando Norris. Jehan could be on his way to become the rookie of the season if he continues the trend he has set till now.