India’s Jehan Daruvala of Carlin Racing dominated the second Sprint Race at Monza to claim his first victory of the season on Saturday (September 11) as he finished ahead of Trident rookie Bent Viscaal and PREMA Racing’s Robert Shwartzman.
After the race, Daruvala said, “I think it was a really well-executed race from my side, I got a really good start which was the plan and then I tried to break DRS as soon as possible.”
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“Also, there was a bit less of a headwind than there was this morning so the tow was a little bit less effective, which helped me out in the beginning,” he said.
“Once I got in a good rhythm I had a good pace and could slowly open the gap, and once we got to around five seconds I just tried to maintain my tyres and keep them in a good shape in case of a Safety Car or another VSC,” he further added.
Daruvala crossed the line 6.1s in front of Viscaal, who scored a maiden Formula 2 podium. Shwartzman was a late entrant into the top three after reverse polesitter David Beckmann locked up late in the race and fell from second to fifth, behind Liam Lawson.
On being asked about been quick this year, Daruvala said, “I think it’s definitely overdue. We’ve been quick in the races, not so much in Qualifying so my goal for this weekend was to take a step forward in Qualifying and we did that.”
“That was one step that we made and to win the race was another step as well. We start in the same place again tomorrow so if we start we did today again tomorrow I think we have another chance of winning tomorrow,” he added.
Championship rivals Oscar Piastri and Guanyu Zhou finished one behind the other in seventh and eighth, while Hitech Grand `rix`s Jüri Vips was ahead of them in sixth.
(With inputs from agencies)
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