Jehan Daruvala sizzles with fourth Formula 2 win; Akhil Rabindra completes a positive race weekend
India’s Jehan Daruvala wrapped up a winning weekend in style by racing to his fourth Formula 2 win in the championship’s main Feature race at Monza in Italy.
Meanwhile, Bengaluru-based racer Akhil Rabindra completed Round 5 at the Circuit Hockenheimring in Germany with a P7 and a P6 finish in the Silver Cup category. He is the only Indian on the European GT4 Series Grid.
Jehan Daruvala started sixth on the grid, which put him at a disadvantage. But he used a mix of strategy, race craft and tire management to capitalize on a safety car and red flag-interrupted race to clinch a comfortable win.
The win was his first of the season. It comes after the Red Bull-backed racer went from fifth to third in Saturday’s Sprint race, making it two podiums from two races for this weekend and eight this year.
It was also Jehan Daruvala's sixth top-three finish at Monza and second win at the track after the Indian won there last year.
Jehan Daruvala elated to win at Monza
Jehan Daruvala was elated after the race and said it was victory that has been in the offing.
"What a weekend. It’s been a long time coming. We’ve had the win taken away from us for one reason or another on more than one occasion this year. But we’ve kept our heads down, we kept believing, we kept pushing and we’ve finally done it. What a venue to do it at too," he said.
He added that achieving a win at Monza is a special feeling:
"Monza is up there with one of my all-time favorite tracks and standing on the top step of this incredible podium, out over the main straight with the Indian national anthem playing out, feels so, so special."
Akhil Rabindra hopes to better performance in last race
Elsewhere, Akhil Rabindra started on a positive note with P4 in Qualification 1 and P7 in Qualification 2. He recorded best timings of 1:47.513 from 10 laps and 1:47.884 from 6 laps respectively.
In Race 1, Rabindra, who drives the Aston Martin Vantage GT4 car for Racing Spirit of Léman, finished on P7, along with his co-driver. They managed a combined time of 1:00:07.596 over 30 laps. In Race 2 they finished one place above from the first race in P6 over 28 laps in 1:01:39.171.
Rabindra will finish the season in Round 6 of the European GT4 Championship at Barcelona, Spain, from September 30 to October 2. He will hope to better his position in the Silver Cup standings and finish on the podium on that occasion.