Abu Dhabi, Feb 4 (IANS): India's top racer Jehan Daruvala recorded a breakthrough win for all Indian-outfit Mumbai Falcons in race one of round two of the Formula 3 Asian Championship, the continent's premier championship. He started on pole and led every lap comfortably on his way to victory.
In the first qualifying session earlier in the day, Daruvala was the only racer on the grid to dip below the one-minute 52-second mark to grab the pole position ahead of Isack Hadjar from France, who clocked 1:53.051 seconds. Chinese racer Guanyu Zhou and championship leader was a close third, posting a lap-time of 1:53.070 secs.
Daruvala had a good start from pole but Hadjar managed to pull alongside his rival before breaking into Corner 1. Daruvala got on the breaks late and held his lead exiting the corner. He made no mistakes with a series of consistent laps, preventing any overtaking attempts on him. He soon opened up a lead of one second.
Right behind Daruvala, there was plenty of action. Zhou was on a charge and overtook Hadjar. He soon posted a couple of fast laps and reduced the gap to Daruvala to under 0.7 seconds. Soon, Daruvala was under pressure and the two battled it out for a couple of laps.
It was then Daruvala's turn to reel out a series of quick laps and he sped away to consistently lap quicker than the cars behind. Daruvala managed to open a gap of over three seconds at one point before backing off, to cool his tyres.
On the penultimate lap, Daruvala once again gave it everything, and posted the fastest laptime of the race which gives him pole position for Race 2 on Friday. The Indian comfortably crossed the finish line to win Mumbai Falcons their first International victory and the first for an Indian Team in the Asian Formula 3 Championship.
"Qualifying well was crucial. I am happy that I could control the pace from the start. It was important that I get the fastest lap because it puts me on pole for Race 2. I want to thank the entire team at Mumbai Falcons for the effort put it," said Daruvala.
Meanwhile, Daruvala's teammate, Kush Maini, has endured a tough weekend. He qualified fifteenth but had a good start to quickly make up positions to eventually finish twelfth.