Author: David Bodapati

BAKU, 11 June 2022: Indian racer Jehan Daruvala came within half a second of his first Formula 2 win of the season in the Azerbaijan round’s Sprint race on Saturday.

The Red Bull-backed Prema driver crossed the line just 0.380 seconds behind ART’s Frederik Vesti at the end of a safety car-disrupted race.

The 23-year-old started third and, having vaulted into the lead with a masterful display of race craft at the start was on course for a dominant win around the unforgiving streets of Baku.

He had even kept the lead through the first of three safety car periods, which wiped out his 4-second advantage. But a slight lock up on cold brakes at the second safety car restart allowed Vesti to slip past just three laps from the finish.

Jehan said, “I would be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed but I’m still happy with the race I did. I had a great start, had everything under control and felt I deserved the win. It’s a shame to miss out by such a narrow margin but we’ll take the positives from this and now focus on Sunday’s feature race.”

Saturday’s second-place finish was Jehan’s fifth from six rounds this season and 12th overall in Formula 2. It is also the fourth time this season that he has finished in the runner-up spot and keeps him third in the overall drivers’ standings.

Jehan, a three-time Formula 2 winner, will get another shot at scoring a strong result on Sunday when he lines up for the longer Feature race ahead of the Azerbaijan Formula One Grand Prix.

Monte Carlo, 27 May 2022: Jehan Daruvala, the Indian racing star qualified fourth fastest in Group B and will start the Sprint race on Saturday in P3 but he will end up in P8 for the Feature race on Sunday in the Formula 2 World Championship held at the famous F1 Circuit here along with the F1 race.

“We had the pace and it was anybody’s pole today. We were right up there in terms of pace but unfortunately for us, there was a Red flag in the end but I am glad that Jake is ok. Now I want to put my head down for the races and go for it,” said Jehan Daruvala after the qualification session.

Qualifying report

Liam Lawson set the fastest time in Qualifying around the streets of Monte Carlo, narrowly beating out Ayumu Iwasa by just 0.059s. Championship leader Felipe Drugovich hit the wall on his final effort but remained third-quickest in Group A. Meanwhile, ART Grand Prix’s Théo Pourchaire topped Group B with a 1:21.535 and will start from second.

Drugovich had been fighting with Lawson as both traded fastest sector times throughout the first segment. The Brazilian was quickest up until Group A’s final efforts, when a slide out of the final corner on what could have been his fastest lap resulted in contact with the wall. Lawson improved and finished his lap to go fastest in the first group.

A slow burn in Group B followed but a red flag in the final minute prevented any last-gasp improvements. A crash for Van Amersfoort Racing’s Jake Hughes at the Swimming Pool chicane ended the session prematurely. It meant that Pourchaire’s penultimate attempt was good enough for the top spot in the second group.

GROUP A

Lawson led the first group out onto the track with conditions looking perfect for Qualifying. All 11 drivers ventured out on scrubbed tyres before boxing after a few exploratory laps for fresh supersofts.

Drugovich set the first representative lap with a 1:21.795s for the rest to beat. Ralph Boschung got closest, just 0.064s down. The former was conservative on his first effort but found improvements across all sectors on his subsequent lap, lowering his session-topping time to a 1:21.348s. Boschung on the other hand radioed into his team that he had tagged the wall on his next lap, bending the steering and leaving him sixth with the final laps to go.

The Championship leader pushed for his third and final lap, setting a session-best middle sector but just a few hundred metres from the line, tagged the wall in the final corner forcing him to pull over. Lawson kept it out of the barriers, finished his lap and improved to go fastest with a 1:21.229s. Iwasa also improved his time to go second in his group.

GROUP B

Logan Sargeant was the first out in Group B for the installation laps. The first of the proper efforts began to filter in with seven minutes remaining. Sargeant’s 1:22.230s was the time to beat heading into the last part of the session.

Roy Nissany edged ahead on his first flying lap, a 1:22.178s put him first with five minutes remaining. Hughes was the next to go fastest, even if he scraped along the barriers at the final corner on the way to the line. Moments later Jehan Daruvala put his PREMA Racing car on top with a 1:21.928s.

Enzo Fittipaldi improved with three minutes left to go as the track continued to rubber in and drivers began to take more risks. Jüri Vips was then quickest but only for a matter of seconds as Théo Pourchaire pipped him by 0.083s ahead of the final minute.

The final set of laps wouldn’t arrive though as Hughes suffered a crash through the Swimming Pool chicane, bringing out the red flags and with so little time left on the clock, the session wasn’t resumed. Clipping the wall on corner entry, the front wing bounced him into the wall and out of the session.

With the aggregated results taken from the sessions, Lawson will line up on pole ahead of Pourchaire with Iwasa alongside Vips on the second row. Drugovich will be fifth followed by Fittipaldi. Doohan is seventh ahead of Daruvala. Marcus Armstrong and Hughes round out the top 10.