Jehan Daruvala has started his 2019 FIA Formula 3 Championship campaign with a dominant win on Sunday at the opening round held at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Italian team, Prema Racing dominated the first round of the F3 championship. In Race 1 on Saturday, defending champion Russian driver, Robert Shwartzman took the victory with Daruvala finishing seventh for Prima Racing.
Come Sunday, on the reverse grid, Daruvala started on the front row alongside Finnish driver Nico Kari in the Trident for Race 2. Daruvala executed a near perfect start that allowed him to take the lead in the run-up to the first corner. But the race was filled with drama as further back down the order, Ye Yifei and Artem Petrov made contact leaving Raoul Hyman and Jake Hughes nowhere to go and resulting in a collision between the four drivers who consequently retired from the race. The safety car was deployed to neutralise the field to clear the track. Five laps later, at the restart, Kari was right behind Daruvala trying to pressurise him for the lead. But the Indian driver maintained his composure and with a flawless drive was able to build up a healthy gap.
On lap 9, even more drama ensued, as the MP Motorsport car of Simo Laaksonen was sent spinning into the wall by Campos Racing’s Alex Peroni. The Australian had been forced off the track and tried to defend his position as he rejoined, only to cut back across the Finn. Laaksonen was forced to retire, Peroni was handed a 10-second stop-go penalty, and the safety car saw its second outing of the afternoon. This negated the 7.4-second lead Daruvala had created over Kari, but it didn’t seem to bother the Indian driver. When the race restarted for a second time, he picked up just where he’d left off and began rebuilding a gap. Daruvala’s unchallenged and unmatched drive allowed him to take the win for Race 2. Hitech Grand Prix’s Jüri Vips took the second spot on the podium after getting past Niko Kari on lap 21. The Finnish driver had to settle for third for Trident.
As Shwartzman finished fourth in Race 2, he now leads the championship with 37 points. Christian Lundgaard follows him in second with 24 points and the victory in Race 2 positions Jehan Daruvala in third, a single point behind the Dane. Prema racing leads the Team Championship standings with a hefty lead with 81 points after the first round. Round 2 of the FIA Formula 3 championship will be held at the Circuit Paul Ricard on June 21-23.
