Sahara Force India Academy racer Jehan Daruvala made an impressive debut at the FIA Formula 3 European Championship, managing top-10 finishes in three main races and bagging two podium finishes in the Rookie classification.
In a modest start to the first round, the 18 year old from Mumbai finished 11th in the first practice but improved significantly to finish third in the second session, just 0.28 seconds off the quickest time.
He qualified sixth for Race 1, which started under the safety car due to rain, and could not manage better than 10th position.
The start of Race 2 went terrible for Jehan because overnight rain meant that the inside of the track was still wet and most racers on that side of the track had a bad start. He eventually finished eighth.
In the Rookie classification in Race 2, Jehan was second behind Mick Schumacher while local British racer Lando Norris was third.
Race 3 grid was based on the second fastest lap in Qualifying 2. Jehan started well from fifth and managed to hold his position. Soon he overtook Lando to move into fourth. Jake Dennis joined them to make it a three car battle and soon got the better of Lando. Jehan then made a small mistake which allowed Lando to overtake both cars at one time, dropping Jehan to fifth once again. Jehan was then overtaken by Jake, which dropped Jehan to sixth, where he eventually finished.
In the rookie classification in Race 3, Jehan once again bagged the trophy for coming second behind Lando Norris while Joey Mawson was third.
"There were many positives from my first weekend in Formula 3. Qualifying 5th, 6th and 5th for the 3 races of the weekend and finishing in the points in all 3 races was very satisfying. The experience of battling through the field from 14th to 8th in Race 2 and the top 6 finish in Race 3 was a good result," he said.
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