F3 Asia: Jehan Daruvala Takes The Championship Lead With Back-To-Back Wins In Round 2

Mumbai Falcons and Jehan Daruvala continued their winning streak during the second and third races in Round 2 of the 2021 F3 Asian Championship. The driver created history by becoming the first Indian to secure a victory in the championship in the first race of Round 2, and followed it up with a second consecutive victory in Race 2. The third race saw Jehan on the podium once with a second-place finish, catapulting him in the championship lead.

Also Read: Jehan Daruvala Becomes First Indian To Win In F3 Asian Championship

Jehan Daruvala led Race 2 from pole position and claimed the victory as well after a close call with the top drivers

Continuing his success streak from Race 1, Jehan started Race 2 from pole position, closely followed by French driver Isack Hadjar and championship leader Guanyu Zhou of China. However, Zhou dropped a position, allowing Dino Beganovic to take third. The top order remained unchanged for the first couple of laps as Jehan comfortably led the grid. However, Hadjar was distinctively faster than Jehan and soon started closing in on the Indian driver. However, Jehan defended his position well. The closing stages also saw the top three cars come head-on as they tried to best each other, but the Mumbai Falcons car manages to surge ahead and assert its lead, going on to win the race. Hadjar and Beganovic came in second and third respectively.

Race 3 saw Jehan start from P4 and moved up to P2 while running on older tyres

The grid for Race 3 was based on the second qualifying session held on Thursday and saw Jehan start from P3. Meanwhile, Pierre-Louis Chovet led the race followed by Guanyu Zhou. Zhou had a poor start and this allowed Jehan to take P3 while Chovet immediately held on to the lead. This also came from the fact that Chovet was running a fresh set of tyres as opposed to Daruvala and Zhou, who were running older tyres. Chovet went on to claim victory in the last race of the round, followed by Jehan while Hadjar moved up to P3 passing Zhou.

Also Read: F3 Asia: Jehan Daruvala Placed 7th, Mumbai Falcons 5th After Round 1

Speaking about his impressive run, Jehan said, "I was under a lot of pressure from behind, and was fighting hard to hold my position. Hadjar drove well and I really enjoyed the moment when we were three wide. It was an enjoyable battle and it is  good that we were all able to race close and clean."

The F3 Asian Championship has three more rounds left that will conclude over the next couple of weeks.