Jehan Daruvala scored his sixth podium of the season in the French round of the Formula 2 championship, as he left the Paul Ricard track with yet another strong points-scoring weekend.
Jehan started Saturday’s Sprint race from pole position and after a lightning start led into the first corner. He was comfortably holding his own at the front when an incident involving three cars brought out the safety car. He timed the restart to perfection, allowing him to open up a small gap to second-placed Liam Lawson. But the latter’s superior straight-line speed allowed him to close in.
It looked like it would only be a matter of time before Lawson used his car’s superior speed down the straights to get past Jehan and sure enough, the Kiwi swept around the outside into Turn 1. Jehan held his line but the pair touched which opened up a tear on Jehan’s front tyre. But he, fortunately, didn’t suffer a puncture. A few laps later Marcus Armstrong attempted to pass Jehan for second at the same corner but on the inside. They made contact but Jehan forced wide across the chicane, and kept his position. He had to slow down significantly, however, to give up any advantage he may have gained, which allowed Lawson to pull clear at the front. Armstrong was handed a five-second penalty for forcing Jehan off the track
On Sunday, Jehan started the Feature race from 10th on the grid. But he fought his way up to seventh as a combination of strategy, which put Jehan in the lead before his stops, and blistering speed after his late switch to fresh tyres, saw him climb up the order.
Jehan said, “It’s good to be back on the podium after what happened in Silverstone and Austria. We were struggling with pace down the straights but had some good battles to finish 2nd. We would have finished even higher in the Feature race with our strategy to run a long first stint but we gambled on a safety car and stayed out a bit longer than ideal. Other than that, it was a solid weekend for us. We still have some areas to work on and I’m confident we’ll come back stronger next weekend in Hungary.”
