Indian racer Jehan Daruvala started his 2016 campaign by winning one of New Zealand's most prestigious events, the Lady Wigram Trophy, for his maiden victory in Formula cars.
At the start of Race 1, Jehan lost a position, but soon recovered and had a straightforward race to finish eighth. The reverse of the top eight would be the starting positions for Race 2. Jehan therefore started on pole for Race 2, but made one of his worst starts and fell down all the way to ninth position. The situation got even worse for Jehan after he was hit from behind under a yellow flag and he fell to sixteenth. He made his way back to finish in thirteenth position.
Jehan was most determined to make the most of Race 3 starting in fifteenth. The race started in damp conditions with all drivers on slick tyres. After losing slightly as the lights went out, Jehan soon made up a couple of positions. The consistent drizzle on track increased and Jehan's team mate - Pedro Piquet (Son of Former F1 world champ - Nelson Piquet) pitted for wet tyres. He gained a lot of time on wet tyres and the team soon called Jehan into the pits as well. After the pit stop, Jehan was one lap behind race leader Lando Norris.
Jehan on wet tyres started carving his way up the field as he first unlapped himself from the race leader and then started overtaking others. A few drivers in front, also pitted for wet tyres which gave Jehan a further advantage.
The turning point for the Indian came when the Safety Car was deployed negating the advantage of the drivers in front. All the drivers were bunched up and only Pedro Piquet was on wet tyres in front of Jehan. The safety car pulled into the pits and Jehan did not put a foot wrong. He overtook Pedro and then one by one overtook the others, including some from around the outside of the hairpin corner. Within one lap, the Mumbai lad had moved from seventh to first and continued to pull away.
The safety car was deployed once again, and soon the race was stopped, earning Jehan his maiden victory in Formula cars. Formula 1 greats like Jackie Stewart, Jack Brabham, Stirling Moss, Jim Clark and Bruce McLaren were all former winners of the Lady Wigram Trophy.
The next race will be this coming weekend at the Teretonga Park Raceway.
