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India’s Jehan Daruvala heads into Spanish F2 round hoping to turn podium streak into victory

• nationalherald
• May 20, 2022

The Red Bull-backed racer is the only driver to have finished on the podium in every F2 round this season

The 23-year-old took victory at the Barcelona circuit on his first visit there in F3 in 2019

by Prashant Kapadia/NHN

MUMBAI, May , 2022: India’s Jehan Daruvala will be hoping to convert a run of three successive podiums into a maiden win of the season, as he heads to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for this weekend’s Spanish round of the Formula 2 championship.

The Red Bull-backed racer has scored a podium in each of this season’s three rounds so far, the only driver of the current crop to do so.

That consistency has put the 23-year-old Prema Racing driver third in the overall drivers standings, just 16 points behind championship leader Theo Pourchaire.

But Jehan, already a three-time Formula 2 winner whose aim is to become the first Indian to win the Formula 2 title this season, will be looking to further cement his credentials as a championship contender with victory around the 4.6-km long track.

Jehan said, “We’ve had a strong start to our season and we go into this weekend with a lot of confidence, especially after the pace we showed in Saudi Arabia and Imola. My aim is obviously to be fighting at the front and I’m sure we have the pace to win. But this is a track everyone knows well, given the amount of testing we do here, and we will have to get everything, from qualifying to our race strategy, absolutely perfect if we want to stand on the top step of the podium.”

Located on the outskirts of Barcelona, the technical Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya track is a popular test venue with teams and drivers. Jehan and Prema enjoyed a productive outing at the in-season Formula 2 test session there last month.

The Indian racer has shown strong form at the track in the past, taking victory on his first visit to the venue at the season-opening Formula 3 round in 2019.

The Spanish Formula 2 round will be held as a support event to the Formula One Spanish Grand Prix. The weekend will kick off with practice and qualifying on Friday with the Sprint race on Saturday and main Feature race on Sunday.

Weekend Schedule*

Free practice: Friday, May 20th at 1505 IST

Qualifying: Friday, May 20th at 2200 IST

Sprint race: Saturday, May 21st at 2110 IST

Feature race: Sunday, May 22nd at 1505 IST

*Live exclusively on Star Sports Select 2 and Select 2 HD

PICTURE CREDIT : Prema Racing

About Jehan Daruvala: Jehan Daruvala is a racing driver from Mumbai, India. He began karting at the age of 10 in 2009. Two years later, he was picked as one of the three winners of Force India’s ‘One From a Billion’ talent hunt. In 2013, he became the first Asian to win the British KF3 karting championship. A proven winner, Jehan has won in every category he has competed in. He is currently racing in the FIA Formula 2 Championship, which is a feeder series to Formula 1 and takes place on the same weekends. Already a multiple winner in the category, Jehan’s goal for the 2022 season is to claim the title which would boost his chances of becoming only the third Indian on the Formula One grid.